23/03/2018 (Agence Europe) – The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Nils Muižnieks, has called upon the Polish Parliament to drop its examination of the anti-abortion initiative launched by a group of Polish citizens. The Commissioner stresses that Poland already has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, allowing abortion under just three circumstances. If adopted, the law would ban therapeutic abortion where the foetus is seriously damaged, even fatally. Muižnieks warns that the measure appears to contradict Poland's obligations under international human rights law. He stressed that in particular, it will endanger the right of women not to be subjected to ill-treatment and run counter to the principle of non-regression, prohibiting any measure that would reduce the existing rights in the field of health. (SP)