STRASBOURG, France (AP) - A Polish woman yesterday challenged her country's ban on abortion, appealing to the European Court of Human Rights over the refusal by her doctors to grant her permission to terminate her pregnancy on medical grounds.

Alicja Tysiac, who suffers from severe myopia, became pregnant for the third time in 2000.

The three ophthalmologists she had consulted each concluded there would be a serious risk to her eyesight if she carried the pregnancy to term. However, they refused to issue a certificate for the pregnancy to be terminated on medical grounds, despite Tysiac's requests, the court said.

With her myopia worsening, she consulted more doctors, but was not allowed to terminate her pregnancy, delivering her third baby by caesarean in November 2000.

Following the delivery, her eyesight deteriorated considerably as a result of what was diagnosed as a retinal haemorrhage, the court said.

Abortion is prohibited in Poland except under certain conditions for medical purposes. Tysiac is alleging that Poland's abortion law violates the European Treaty on Human Rights, a document legally binding in all European countries.

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