Poland’s election winners do not want to wait until they receive the order to form a government. In parliament they are already starting to roll back laws. First of all, it’s about family planning.
It could be the first campaign promise of Donald Tusk’s so-called Citizens’ Coalition (KO) to be fulfilled: the introduction of state funding for in-vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments.
Tusk is not yet Prime Minister, but a citizens’ initiative on the subject is already being debated in the House of Representatives, the Sejm. “Yes to in vitro” is the motto – half a million people have signed it.
Fight against low birth rates
The birth rate in Poland is at its lowest level since World War II. But that’s not the only reason why the citizens’ coalition, which won the majority with its partners in the parliamentary election, wants to subsidize in-vitro treatments from the state, explains MP Agnieszka Pomaska.
In the Sejm she said: “Today we are giving Poles back the right to the happiness that comes with having a child. Restoring funding for in vitro programs is a first decision of the democratic majority.”
A similar program existed under Tusk’s government from 2013 to 2016, then the PiS abolished it. From the point of view of parts of the national conservative party, the fertilization of eggs in a test tube is a kind of “human breeding”.
At an earlier Sejm debate, PiS MP Barbara Bartus said about in vitro fertilization: “This is not a method against infertility. This is about the production of people.”
Divided Parliament
In political Poland, the divisions are deep when it comes to the issue of reproduction. The right to abortion is also a constant point of contention. The PiS had tightened the already strict Polish abortion legislation again during its time in government. Women are now only allowed to have an abortion if their life is threatened or the pregnancy is the result of rape.
Abortions because the fetus has severe deformities and would not be able to survive are no longer permitted since 2021. As a result, many women are afraid of becoming pregnant in Poland, says Aleksandra Magryta from the women’s rights and family planning organization FEDERA.
Women call us every day who are told by their doctor that their unborn child has severe deformities and will only survive a few hours or perhaps days after birth. They ask us what they should do. It is a massive psychological burden for the women not to be able to legally terminate a pregnancy in Poland; many also have suicidal thoughts.
Protests over denied abortions
The death of six women in Polish hospitals, to whom doctors apparently refused medically necessary abortions, also galvanized many women in the country and drove them to the ballot box in this year’s parliamentary elections, says women’s rights activist Aleksandra Magryta.
She has high hopes for a new citizens’ coalition under Tusk and assumes that after the discussions on state subsidies for fertility treatments, other legislative proposals will follow, including abortion rights.
No more influence on the woman’s body
During the election campaign, Donald Tusk from the liberal-conservative Civic Platform spoke out in favor of legalizing abortions up to the twelfth week of pregnancy, i.e. a significant liberalization. However, it is uncertain whether there will be a majority for this in the Polish parliament. Because in the citizens’ coalition that Tusk leads, there are also MPs who just want to return to the situation before the PiS government.
Nevertheless, Tusk promises voters significant improvements: “We will ensure that the influence of the police officer, the priest or the PiS apparatchik on women’s bodies in Poland is reduced to zero.”
Susanna Zdrzalek, ARD Warsaw, tagesschau, November 22nd, 2023 5:23 p.m