By a razor-thin margin, the lower house of Poland’s parliament has rejected a move to liberalize the country’s abortion laws.
The proposal, defeated in a vote of 218-215, would have abolished penalties for people who help someone to get an abortion. That would include people providing abortion medication and doctors performing abortions in the early weeks of a pregnancy or due to fetal anomalies.
In 2021, Poland’s previous government enacted a ban on abortion, except in cases involving rape or incest or when a woman’s health or life is at risk. (In these latter situations, abortions are often not performed, per se, given the principle of double effect.)
But during last year’s campaign, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition party promised to allow it up to 12 weeks gestation.
Disagreements within the ruling coalition, which includes moderate lawmakers on the left and the right, stalled such plans, but that coalition has restored public funding for in-vitro fertilization and voted to change rules on accessing so-called emergency contraception.
Other votes on the way
The bill that was defeated by three votes on Friday was the first of four to be released by a bi-partisan committee considering abortion liberalization. It was rejected by almost half of the lawmakers belonging to the Christian Democratic Third Way party, which forms part of the government, as well as members of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) and Confederation parties, according to Reuters.
Two of the other bills would allow abortion until 12 weeks and the third, proposed by the Third Way, reinstates the right to abortion in cases of fetal anomalies.
[In photo above, Tusk, lower left, and other ministers of his government voted on April 12 to allow the four bills liberalizing abortion law to go forward.]
President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the PiS party and staunchly anti-abortion, had vowed to use his presidential veto to stop Friday’s bill from becoming law if it passed, Reuters said.
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