The Polish Sejm on Friday did not reject four bills on abortion liberalization and decided to submit them to a special parliamentary commission for consideration.
As reported by Onet, the Sejm was considering only four bills with slightly different visions – two from the "Left" and one each from the "Civil Coalition" Donald Tusk and the “Third Way” bloc. Parliamentarians decided not to reject them in the first reading.
The bills will now be submitted to a commission to be appointed today. The bills proposed by the three political parties differ in the extent to which they would liberalize abortion rules.
In November, the left filed two abortion bills: one partially decriminalizing abortion and abortion care, the other allowing abortions up to the end of the 12th week of pregnancy.
At the end of January, a draft of a group of deputies of the “Civil Coalition” was also submitted to the Seimas for consideration, which stipulates that a woman has the right to an abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
At the end of February, the “Third Way” submitted to the Seimas a draft amendment to the law “On family planning and protection of the human fetus,” which repeals the verdict of the Constitutional Court of 2020.
It returns to the law the provision according to which pregnancy can be terminated when " research results indicate a high probability of severe and irreversible fetal defects or an incurable disease that threatens its life.”
In 2020, the Constitutional Court of Poland made a decision that established an almost complete ban on abortion and caused sharp protests from the liberal part of society.
Under pressure from the authorities, the then ruling Law and Justice party did not publish the court verdict and its rationale, as a result of which the law did not formally enter into force – but created uncertainty for doctors.
The issue of abortion almost quarreled the ruling coalition of the new government of Poland after Speaker Szymon Golownia did not want to bring the issue up for discussion before the local elections.
Another one An obstacle may be the position of President Andrzej Duda, who may not sign off on any project to liberalize access to abortion, as he has repeatedly stated that he is against it.
Polls show that the majority of Poles support allowing abortions in the presence of a serious threat for the life of the mother or her health, as well as in the presence of fetal defects.
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich