Polish MPs reject bill seeking to ease strict abortion law

Poland's lower house rejected a bill on Friday that sought to decriminalise the act of helping someone get an abortion. The vote – in which 218 MPs voted against the bill and 215 were in favour – highlighted the divisions in the ruling coalition over easing one of Europe's most restrictive abortion laws.


Issued on: 12/07/2024 - 

Anti-abortion demonstrators march in support of every conceived life and against steps taken by the new government to liberalize Poland's strict law and allow termination of pregnancy until the 12th week, in Warsaw, Poland, on April 14, 2024.

 © Czarek Sokolowski, AP

Polish MPs on Friday rejected a bill that would have decriminalised the act of facilitating abortions in a blow for reproductive rights and the country's new liberal government.

The draft law, seen as a precursor to easing traditionally Catholic Poland's almost total ban on abortions, was rejected by 218 MPs against and 215 in favour.

The bill would have helped, for example, campaigners who provide women wanting to terminate their pregnancies with pills obtained in other countries for medical abortions.

The bill was the first and most conservative of four draft texts to liberalize abortion access in Poland put forward by members of the ruling pro-EU coalition.

Poland currently has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, and remains deeply divided on the issue.

The alliance of pro-EU parties came to power in October promising to legalize abortion, which is currently only permitted if the pregnancy is the result of sexual assault or incest, or if it poses a direct threat to the life or health of the mother.

The text submitted to the vote on Friday was rejected by representatives from the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party and the far-right Konfederacja, which are two major opposition groups.

Read more PM Donald Tusk faces uphill battle on reforming Polish abortion rights

Some deputies of the PSL (Christian Democrats), members of the ruling coalition, also voted against it.

The three other bills, still being debated in parliamentary committees, directly propose easing access to abortion, each to a different extent.

This week, President Andrzej Duda, a close ally of the PiS, warned that he would veto all the bills even if they are passed.

(AFP)