Polish lawmakers vote to ease abortion ban, but face likely presidential veto
The bills would restore abortions for severe foetal defects and shield some medical staff from prosecution, but a presidential veto is expected.
- On October 20, Poland's parliament passed two bills to reinstate abortion access for severe fetal defects and decriminalize abortion assistance, sending the legislation to the Senate before a likely veto from President Karol Nawrocki.
- Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition revived the push despite a July 2024 defeat, aiming to challenge President Nawrocki and leverage public opinion showing 57 per cent of Poles favored broader abortion access.
- Presidential aide Zbigniew Bogucki told Polsat News on October 20 that President Nawrocki remains committed to "protection of life from conception to natural death," criticizing the legislation as Tusk's attempt to distract from governance failures.
- The ruling coalition lacks the three-fifths majority required to override a presidential veto, making the bills' enactment unlikely; even if passed, Poland would remain among the European Union's most restrictive abortion countries.
- Tusk seeks to unite his coalition for the 2027 parliamentary elections by framing abortion as a key issue, though analysts suggest this strategy may yield only a pyrrhic victory without numbers to force legislative change.
131 Articles
131 Articles
On Tuesday, Poland's parliament passed two draft laws designed to ease strict abortion law. However, they will probably fail in the veto of the right-wing conservative president Karol Nawrocki. On Thursday, many people across the country demonstrated for liberalisation. They drummed, whistled and carried posters with inscriptions such as "Legal abortion" and "We can replace any government." The demonstrations took place in cities such as Warsaw,…
On Tuesday, the lower house of the Polish parliament approved this bill and a second text re-establishing the serious malformations of the foetus among the few legal grounds of IVG. But the course of these texts is not finished. Polish public media Polskie Radio returns on this decision.
Poland's parliament has passed two laws to relax the strict abortion law, but the reform is on the brink – and women's rights activists are once again taking to the streets.
Poland ' s Seimas has passed a law allowing abortion in the event of severe foetal defects, which will be reported by the local media.
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