Poland’s top court rules that law allowing abortion of fetuses with congenital defects is unconstitutional

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s top court ruled Thursday that a law allowing abortion of fetuses with congenital defects is unconstitutional, shutting a loophole in the predominantly Catholic country’s abortion laws that are among Europe’s strictest. Two judges in the Constitutional Court did not back the majority ruling and the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner tweeted to say it was a “sad day for women’s rights.” The ruling was sought by right-wing lawmakers who argued that terminating a pregnancy due to fetal defects was against the Constitutional protection every individual’s life. The challenged 1993 law was a hard-won compromise that also allows abortions when a pregnancy endangers a woman’s health or results from crime.