Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
STRASBOURG, France, Feb 8, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A woman denied an abortion in Poland appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, saying the Polish government violated her rights, a report said.
Alicja Tysiac, 35, of Warsaw -- an unemployed single mother of three who suffers from severe myopia -- Tuesday said a doctor insisted in 2000 that she give birth to her third child despite other doctors' warnings that she could go blind.
Polish laws on abortion, which was readily available under communist rule, have been toughened in recent years. Poles last year elected a new regime whose leaders campaigned on traditional Roman Catholic values.
"There is stigma here surrounding abortion," Wanda Nowiska, president of the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning, told the International Herald Tribune.
"There is a growing religious fundamentalism" in central and eastern Europe, she said.
The women's group is supporting Tysiac's Strasbourg, France, appeal.
A Polish government official said it was too early to comment on the case.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
