THE EUROPEAN Court of Human Rights has ruled by six votes to one that a Polish woman, denied timely access to genetic tests and who later gave birth to a child with genetic abnormalities, was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment.
In a case that will be watched closely in Ireland, the court has ruled that the failure to allow her access to the tests meant she was unable to access a legal abortion.
The human rights court has not overruled national laws on abortion. However, this is the second time in recent months that the court in Strasbourg has ruled that countries with highly restrictive abortion laws have failed to permit women to have abortions under those laws.
Last December the court ruled that Ireland had also failed to vindicate a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion where her life was at risk.
In the Polish case, the married mother of two had an ultrasound scan when 18 weeks’ pregnant which indicated the foetus was malformed.
She told her family doctor she wished to have an abortion if that was the case, which would have been legal at that stage. Two further scans confirmed malformation was likely and a specialist recommended amniocentesis, a test of the amniotic fluid.
Her family doctor refused to refer her for this test. While he was on duty in the local hospital, she and her husband asked him to terminate the pregnancy, but he refused.
She was then referred to a university hospital in Krakow. The doctor there criticised her for seeking an abortion and refused to sanction genetic tests. She was also informed the hospital refused to carry out abortions.
She had an amniocentesis test 23 weeks into her pregnancy and was told the results would take two weeks. The law only permits abortions on the grounds of foetal abnormality before 24 weeks.
When the tests confirmed Turner syndrome, she again asked for an abortion, but was told it was too late. She later gave birth to a child with the condition. Her husband left her following the baby’s birth.
She sued the doctor and hospital for failing to give her the test in a timely manner and for speaking of her case to the press and obtained compensation.
She then complained to the European Court of Human Rights.