2020-10-27 15:22 update: 2020-11-07, 10:28
Representative of KO Barbara Nowacka (P-up) and Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Ryszard Terlecki (P-up) in the Sejm Chamber in Warsaw. Photo: PAP / Piotr Nowak
Poland's new abortion law still allows for terminations if the pregnancy is life threatening or resulted from rape, Julia Przylebska, the head of the Constitutional Tribunal, told PAP on Tuesday.
On Thursday the court triggered widespread protests across the country after it ruled that abortions due to irreversible foetal damage, allowed under the old 1993 abortion law, was unconstitutional.
Przylebska said the ruling would curb abortions carried out for eugenic reasons, but added that a termination of a pregnancy would be allowed if it “constitutes a threat to the woman’s life and health” or if it is the result of an “illegal act, such as rape”.
"The Constitutional Tribunal's verdict is not aimed at anyone and should not be used by anyone to provoke social tension," Przylebska continued, adding that the controversy surrounding it, she believed, was mainly due to misinformation.
The judge also pointed out that the new abortion laws did not forbid pre-natal testing, and stressed that such tests were a form of protection for pregnant women. (PAP)
