Abortion: UN Committee Condemns Poland

Thanks to a landmark decision by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal on October 22, 2020, eugenic abortion—carried out because of a child's malformation or illness—is now banned in Poland. This has considerably reduced the murder of unborn children, since over 95% of abortions were carried out for this reason (Trisomy 21—Down Syndrome—in particular).

On August 24, 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) published the press release: “Poland violated women's rights by unduly restricting access to abortion, UN committee finds,” concluding a survey carried out in the country in 2022, detailing that “the situation in Poland constitutes gender-based violence against women and may rise to the level of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”, the ECJL quotes.

The report concludes with “22 recommendations [...] including the adoption of a human rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights, notably through legal reforms towards total decriminalisation and legalisation of abortion, as well as the recognition of the right to abortion as a fundamental right.”

A Well-Oiled Machine

Louis-Marie Bonneau points out that this report “is a response to a denunciation made by several Polish pro-abortion activist organizations and the Center for Reproductive Rights.” The first lie is to base the complaint on “the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by Poland in 1980.” But “no article of this Convention remotely refers to abortion.”

Yet CEDAW members interpret certain articles in this way, contrary to the general interpretation of the States, particularly the most conservative ones. It is clear that CEDAW is falsifying international law in order to put pressure on Poland.

It should be added that 9 members of CEDAW “have publicly taken a stand in favor of abortion,” the ECJL notes, and that other members come from NGOs with a liberal approach to abortion.

The second lie consists of submitting “reports on abortion rights violations in the countries reviewed to the UN Committees,” while “these NGOs conduct strategic litigation before national and international courts. Strategic litigation is a legal action that does not aim at obtaining compensation for a victim, but rather a change in the law.”

Since 2000, numerous cases of this type have been brought against Poland. The aim is “to exploit the goodwill of members of UN committees to obtain legal advances.” In other words, “It's a real instrumentalization and privatization of international law bodies.”

And “[t]he decisions of these committees are not legally binding, but they contribute to create a ‘soft law’ which ends up exerting considerable influence on States and international courts of justice,” the article concludes, encouraging States to regain power by leading a reform of these institutions.