This seminar ventures to answer the question of how liberal constitutionalism responds to the issue of abortion. At its core is the hypothesis that abortion, more than any other social issue, acts as a litmus test for adherence to the fundamental principles of liberal constitutionalism: democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the principles of separation of powers and constitutional control. The seminar explores each of these relationships: between abortion and democracy, between abortion and the rule of law, between abortion and human rights, and between abortion and the separation of powers, in particular by questioning the legitimacy of the supreme and constitutional courts to resolve abortion cases. Furthermore, it will be argued that the abortion issue acts as the proverbial canary in the coal mine, indicating the erosion or decline of liberal constitutionalism, manifested by changes in the operation of its fundamental principles. The result is democratic and rule of law backsliding, a misappropriation of human rights and a weakening of the separation of powers through the domination of the executive over the judiciary, including supreme and constitutional courts. Consequently, abortion has the potential to test the functioning of the institutions of liberal democracy, as well as indicate a transformation of the concept of liberal democracy and the ‘sexual contract’ underlying liberal constitutionalism project.
This seminar is the presentation of the book proposal.
Anna Sledzinska-Simon is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of the University of Wroclaw. She obtained an LL.M. and S.J.D. in Comparative Constitutional Law at the Central European University (Budapest). For many years, she has been involved as an expert in the legal network of the Fundamental Rights Agency, a guest lecturer at the Academy of European Law (Trier) and research partner at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Halle). In Poland, she is associated with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Batory Foundation. She specialises in international human rights law and comparative constitutional law, with a particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe, women's rights and anti-discrimination law. In 2024, Anna was awarded a Senior Braudel Fellowship at the European University Institute.