By Alba Murcia and Angie Garcia Atehortua
Dear President,
Strategic Advocacy for Human Rights (SAHR) is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to build a movement of feminist and intersectional Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and lawyers who use and shape the law to achieve justice for all survivors of sexual violence.
SAHR’s work is framed in the recognition of sexual and reproductive justice as a pillar of women’s rights.
SAHR expresses its concern for the recent court ruling in Poland that bans abortions on the grounds of fatal or severe fetal impairment. It is estimated that currently 98% of all legal abortions in the country are performed on the grounds of severe and irreversible impairment of the fetus. The court ruling has devastating consequences for women and adolescent girls” in need of comprehensive abortion care and effectively outlaw safe and legal pregnancy terminations.
Denial of access to safe and legal abortion drives service provision underground into the hands of unqualified practitioners and exacerbates the risks to the health and safety of the affected women. Between 2015 and 2019, on average, 73.3 million induced (safe and unsafe) abortions occurred worldwide each year. 3 out of 10 (29%) of all pregnancies, and 6 out of 10 (61%) of all unintended pregnancies, ended in an induced abortion. Among these, 1 out of 3 were carried out in the least safe or dangerous conditions. Over half of all estimated unsafe abortions globally were in Asia, most of them in south and central Asia. 3 out of 4 abortions that occurred in Africa and Latin America were unsafe. Each year between 4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths can be attributed to unsafe abortion. The annual cost of treating major complications from unsafe abortion is estimated at USD 553 million.
As a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (since 1977) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (since 1980), Poland has legal obligation to guarantee access to legal, safe and affordable abortion and post abortion care for all women and girls. Before the ruling, Poland had already one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws and the court’s ruling set more barriers to accessing legal and safe abortion. States have to provide for termination of pregnancy in cases of fatal fetal impairment.
Yours Sincerely,
The Legal Team at SAHR
Sources:
Bearak J, Popinchalk A, Ganatra B, Moller A-B, Tunçalp Ö, Beavin C, Kwok L, Alkema L. Unintended pregnancy and abortion by income, region, and the legal status of abortion: estimates from a comprehensive model for 1990–2019. Lancet Glob Health. 2020 Sep; 8(9):e1152-e1161. doi: 10.1016/S2214–109X(20)30315–6
Ganatra B, Gerdts C, Rossier C, Johnson Jr B R, Tuncalp Ö, Assifi A, Sedgh G, Singh S, Bankole A, Popinchalk A, Bearak J, Kang Z, Alkema L. Global, regional, and subregional classification of abortions by safety, 2010–14: estimates from a Bayesian hierarchical model. The Lancet. 2017 Sep
