Warsaw, Poland, Jun 21, 2007 / 08:51 am
The government of Poland will appeal the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, which requires the eastern European country to pay a citizen $36,710 in damages for denying her an abortion. The court ruled the woman’s rights were violated in a six-to-one vote.
Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski announced the decision to appeal at a news conference on Tuesday. "If we didn't appeal we would have to ease the anti-abortion laws in Poland and this wouldn't be good," Kaczynski told reporters.
The woman, Alicja Tysiac, was upset she could not get an abortion in 2000. She claims giving birth damaged her eyesight and she is now unable to take good care of her three children.
During her third pregnancy in early 2000, Tysiac visited three ophthalmologists who told her that carrying the pregnancy to term would damage her eyesight. However, they refused to sign a paper needed to approve an abortion for health reasons.