With the arrival of the left in parliament, Poland could well reconsider the right to abortion. The left has tabled two bills in this direction. One of them “provides for the complete legalization of the right to terminate a pregnancy up to the 12th week of gestation (…) and the other specifically decriminalizes assistance with abortion”, indicated MP Anna Maria Zukowska AFP. The two legislative proposals were tabled on Monday on the first day of the inauguration session of the new Polish parliament resulting from the October legislative elections.
Two opposing camps – the nationalist populists of the PiS until now in power, and the pro-European camp led by the former president of the European Council Donald Tusk – claim victory at the end of these elections and aspire to form the government. The Law and Justice party (PiS) won the largest number of seats in Parliament but without the possibility of forming a majority, which on the other hand emerged for the pro-European forces.
These elected one of their leaders, Szymon Holownia, to the post of president of the Diet (lower house). The legalization of the right to abortion is on the agenda of two of the three pro-European parties, that of the left and that of Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO).
One of the most restrictive laws
Poland, a traditionally Catholic country, already had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe when the Constitutional Court in 2020 sided with the nationalist populist government in declaring terminations of pregnancies for “unconstitutional” fetal malformation. They are only authorized in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.
The anti-abortion law theoretically allows doctors to perform an abortion if the woman’s life is in danger, but in practice it is so restrictive that doctors are afraid to do so. The law also provides for up to three years in prison for anyone who terminates a pregnancy or anyone who assists or induces a pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy.
In March, a Polish activist, Justyna Wydrzynska, was sentenced by a Warsaw court to community service for assisting in an abortion, an unprecedented case in Poland. According to a poll carried out at the beginning of March, 83.7% of Poles are in favor of liberalizing the law on abortion. Only 11.5% of those surveyed wanted to maintain the current legal status.