Polish lawmakers voted Friday to advance bills that would lift a near-total ban on abortion in place since 2020, reviving an extremely polarising debate in the traditionally Roman Catholic country. But by launching an effort to liberalise abortion laws, Prime Minister Donald Tusk is moving to fulfil a campaign promise.
Members of the Sejm (lower house) voted to advance four separate abortion bills on Friday that would help bring Polish law into line with widespread European standards.
Two of the bills would guarantee access to abortion through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, including the one introduced by Tusk’s Civic Platform party. A third proposes decriminalising offering assistance to a woman in terminating a pregnancy, currently punishable by three years in prison, while a fourth, stricter bill would keep the ban in place but allow abortion in cases of severe foetal defects.
The Sejm also voted to create a commission that would continue work on all four bills.
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Tusk’s proposed abortion reform was an important element of his electoral success in October 2023, say some analysts.
"The political reasons why Tusk now wants to debate the right to abortion are obvious. [ . . .] Tusk must give the feeling that the women's electorate is still important to him. Of the 100 promises he made, changing the abortion law was a clear priority,” said politics professor Ewa Marciniak of Warsaw University.
Tusk’s centrist coalition won, in part, by riding a wave of frustration from young people and women directed at the previous hard-right Law and Justice (PiS) government. Polish women saw a severe backslide in reproductive rights in 2020 when a top court controlled by PiS loyalists outlawed almost all abortions, only permitting them in cases of rape or incest or if the woman’s life was in danger.
The decision triggered mass protests across the nation.
According to a recent opinion poll by Ipsos, 35 percent of Poles are in favour of allowing abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy while 14 percent said they would keep the current rules.
A test of coalition cohesion
“Abortion law is extremely important,” said Andrzej Bobiński, director general of the Polityka Insight think tank. “It gave the government the majority that it has, it mobilised young people, it got a lot of people interested in politics and it is part of this moment when people understood that what the government does can impact them.”
As Tusk, 66, wades into the risky terrain of abortion reform, he will likely face rebellion from within his own coalition as well as resistance from the populist-nationalist government he booted out of power.
One of Tusk’s coalition partners – Polska 2050, led by parliament speaker Szymon Hołownia and allied with the Polish People’s Party – has a much more conservative view on abortion than Tusk’s Civic Platform or that of leftist coalition partner Lewica.
Although Hołownia voted Friday for work to take place on all the proposals “out of respect for democracy and concern for the durability of the coalition”, he wants any legislative changes on abortion approved by parliament to also be put to a referendum.
The Irish model
“This would be the Irish way out of the vote [Ireland held a referendum on abortion in 2018],” said Bobiński. “Yet for both the progressives and leftists in Civic Platform, you do not hold a referendum on human rights.”
Even if parliament gives its final approval for the reforms, President Andrzej Duda, a conservative Catholic ally of the right-wing opposition PiS, is unlikely to sign them into law. “The legal regulations will therefore not be an act adopted by the Sejm, but a regulation of the ministry of health,” said Marciniak.
At the heart of the question of liberalising abortion laws is the injustice engendered by the near total-ban on abortion. “It’s fairly easy to have an abortion in Poland if you have the money. The real problem is that it has to happen underground, outside of the system,” said Bobiński.
Whatever happens, “Tusk must show that he cares about women voters," said Marciniak.
Now it’s just a question for him of finding a balance between his campaign promises to women and the conservative elements in Polish society.
(With AP and AFP)
