2024-04-11 19:31 update: 2024-04-12, 19:07
Fot. PAP/Radek Pietruszka
A debate on abortion liberalisation in the Polish parliament prompted protests by pro-life organisations and a nationwide discussion among experts and in social media.
Poland's newly-formed coalition government wants to reverse changes introduced by a 2020 verdict by the Constitutional Tribunal, consisting mainly of judges appointed by the then-ruling ruling socially-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which led to a near-total ban on terminations.
The Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, started debating four bills aiming to ease the country’s abortion laws on Thursday.
The tension arose with differing views among coalition partners on how to liberalise the current restrictive laws.
The debate stirred the political groupings as well as the public.
The parliament's session was preceded by an incident involving abortion activists who were denied entry to the Sejm visitor's gallery owing to 'lack of space.'
Meanwhile, the European Parliament adopted a resolution demanding the inclusion of the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. MEPs called on Malta and Poland, the two countries with the toughest limitations on abortion, to lift restrictions on the issue.
Poland's Equality Minister Katarzyna Kotula, a member of The Left party, wrote on the X platform that "in Polish hospitals, it is easy to get religious relics, but difficult to get abortions."
Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, Poland's former ombudsman, also spoke in favour of liberalising abortion laws. In an interview with the state-owned Radio Three, he said that "women should have a choice when it comes to planning their lives."
Representatives of the clergy and former children's ombudsman Mikolaj Pawlak reminded the public of what he saw as the need to protect life. Pawlak invoked Article 2(1) of the Law on the Ombudsman for Children, "A child is any human being from conception to adulthood."
Anti-abortion circles were protesting in front of the Sejm, brandishing plastic human foetuses, empty baby carriages and banners depicting damaged foetuses. A baby's cry rang out from loudspeakers.
Abortion is currently permitted in Poland only if the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest or if it threatens the health or life of the mother.
According to its critics, the 2020 ruling has had a further impact on the lives of Polish women because medical staff, fearing legal consequences for terminating pregnancies even though they are permissible under the law, have refused to carry out the procedure.
As a result, several women have died in Polish hospitals due to infections or complications during their pregnancies. (PAP)
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