Recently, in a 6-1 decision, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the government of Poland to award 25,000 euros to a woman who claims her human rights were violated when she was denied an abortion.
The court held that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European Convention on Human Rights, “reiterating that legislation regulating the interruption of pregnancy touched upon the sphere of private life, since, whenever a woman was pregnant, her private life became closely connected with the developing fetus.”
In 2000, a Ms.Tysiac, who has severe myopia, was told by several eye specialists that carrying her pregnancy to full term could put her eyesight at serious risk. However, neither the specialists nor her general practitioner would authorize an abortion. Following the delivery of her third child, Tysiac suffered a retinal hemorrhage and says she fears the possibility of future blindness.
Tysiac eventually filed suit with the European Court with the help of an NGO, Interights.
Poland’s current laws only allow abortion if the life or the health of the mother, fetal malformation, or as a result of rape or incest. According to the court’s summary of the judgment, “no procedural and regulatory framework had been put in place to enable a pregnant woman to assert her right to a therapeutic abortion, thus rendering that right ineffective.”
Now, upon submission to the EU accession treaty, Poland made the caveat that no EU treaty would “hamper the Polish government in regulating moral issues or those concerning the protection of human life.” In spite of this latest ruling, no changes are expected to be made in Poland’s abortion laws.
This case raises some important questions about human rights, globalization, and the EU. I'll list off some of the things that I was thinking about when reading this:
1. What happens when intra-national problems cannot be handled by local government due to international agreements? Here, the EU court is not only ruling on a national issue, but blatantly overruling the Polish government's decision to sign the accession treaty without giving up the right to rule on "moral issues."
2. European federalism. Can the American experiment be copied?
3. Despite the plethora of problems, is there still a place for a more prudent type of globalization?
My comments will be brief and they don't do justice to the quality of Jason's post, but I'm at an internet cafe so I can't ramble on (lucky you).
ReplyDeleteMany people have for a long time predicted collisions between the elites of the EU and Poland. I am aware that individuals like JPII and other high ranking Vatican officials had hoped/are hoping that Poland would be a force for good in the EU, turning it back from its downward slide toward irrelevance. I hope they are right. I also hope that Poland remains firm in its stance here and in other areas as well, economic independence, relatively free from EU environmental regulations, etc. I've spoken about this very subject with a Polish friend of mine who is very concerned, but also hopeful. We shall see.