Voluntary termination of pregnancy

23.The Committee reiterates its concern about the high number of clandestine abortions that may put the lives and health of women at risk. The Committee is also concerned about significant procedural and practical obstacles faced by women to access safe legal abortion, which prompt women to travel long distances or abroad to access safe legal abortion. It also notes with concern that, the conscientious clause in article 39 of the Act on Medical Profession has often been inappropriately claimed in practice with the result that access to legal abortion is unavailable in entire institutions and a region of the country; that as a result of the judgement of the Constitutional Tribunal of October 2015, there is no reliable referral mechanism for access to abortion following the exercise of conscientious objection; and that in some areas of the State party few if any health providers are willing to offer legal abortion services. The Committee is further concerned by recent initiatives to further restrict voluntary termination of pregnancy. (arts. 3, 6, 7 and 17)

24.The State party should:

(a) Ensure that its legislation does not prompt women to resort to clandestine abortions that put their lives and health at risk. It should conduct research into and provide statistics on the use of illegal abortion. It should further ensure women’s effective access to safe legal abortion throughout the entire country and that women are not obliged, as a consequence of conscientious objection or prolonged review of complaints against refusal to obtain an abortion, to resort to clandestine abortion that put their lives and health at risk , by inter alia, as a matter of priority establishing and regulating uniform standardised guidelines in public health for provision of legal abortion services throughout the country; enhancing the effectiveness of the referral mechanism to ensure access to legal abortion in cases of conscientious objection by medical practitioners; facilitating access to prenatal genetic testing in order to determine in accordance with the Act of 7 January 1993 whether a foetus suffers from a severe and irreversible foetal impairment or incurable illness that threatens the foetus’ life; ensuring timely review of appeals against a refusal for an abortion, including further reducing substantially the Physician’s Commission decision deadline; and ensuring that mechanisms for obtaining prosecutor certifications and regulations of individual hospitals do not obstruct access to legal abortion;

2. Refrain from adopting any legislative reform that would amount to a retrogression of already restrictive legislation on women’s access to safe and legal abortion; and

3. Increase education and awareness raising programmes on sexual and reproductive health rights and facilitate effective access to contraceptives.