Hof voor Mensenrechten weigert uitspraak in Franse abortus-zaak (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the abortion of a six-month-old foetus was not a violation of the right to life, preventing a possible flood of legal challenges to abortion rights across Europe.

Judges ruled on Thursday (8 July) in Strasbourg that a therapeutic abortion carried out on a six-month-old foetus was not a violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, by a margin of 14 votes to three.

The case could have had major implications for abortion law around Europe, casting doubt on the legality of abortion in the countries party to the convention.

A French woman had brought the case after mistakenly receiving treatment for removal of a coil - a procedure intended for another woman of the same name - which punctured the amniotic sac making abortion necessary.

The Court recommended that the matter be dealt with at national level.

There is "no European consensus on the scientific and legal definition of the beginning of life" it said in a statement.

"The Court was convinced that it was neither desirable, nor even possible as matters stood, to answer in the abstract the question whether the unborn child was a person for the purposes of Article 2 of the Convention".