Abortion in Poland
Abortion in Poland is illegal except in cases where the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act or when the woman's life or health is in danger.
[2] Poland is one of the few countries in the world where abortion became largely outlawed since the 1990s after decades of permissive liberalized legislation during the communist-era Polish People's Republic.
[4] Poland's abortion law is also one of the most restrictive in the European Union (EU) and Europe in general, along with a group of other traditionally Roman Catholic countries of the region (e.g. Malta, Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Monaco and Andorra).
[5] In July 2024, a bill sponsored by the Donald Tusk government to allow abortion on request during the first trimester was rejected by the Polish lower house in a 218-215 vote.
In that year, the new Penal Code legalised abortion only when there were medical reasons and, for the first time in Europe, when the pregnancy resulted from a criminal act.
[10] This made Poland the first country in Europe outside the Soviet Union to legalize abortion in cases of rape and threat to maternal health.
In Nazi Germany, which included territories of Poland from 1939 to 1945, the law allowing unlimited abortions by Polish women was in force since 9 March 1943.
On 27 October 2017, under pressure from Bishops and lay Catholic groups, right-wing deputies from various parties made an application to the Constitutional Tribunal to declare the admissibility of abortion unconstitutional in the case of a high probability of severe and irreversible fetal impairment or an incurable disease that threatens the fetus.
[22] The chief justice, Julia Przyłębska, said in a ruling that existing legislation – one of Europe's most restrictive – that allows for the abortion of malformed fetuses was incompatible with the constitution.
After the ruling goes into effect, abortion will only be permissible in Poland in the case of rape, incest or a threat to the mother's health and life, which make up only about 2% of legal terminations conducted in recent years.
[29] In April 2016, Polish organizations proposed amended legislation to ban abortion in all cases except to save the woman's life.
[32] A competing bill proposing liberalization of abortion laws, supported by a civil initiative that succeeded in gathering the required number of signatures, was rejected outright in the same session of the Sejm.
This was part of a larger campaign, in which people published selfies in black clothing in social media, tagged #czarnyprotest (#blackprotest).
[35][36] On 1 October 2016, a large protest also took place near the Sejm building, organized by Barbara Nowacka of Inicjatywa Polska, who had collected signatures under a citizens' bill to liberalize the Polish abortion law.
The event was called "Czarny Poniedziałek" ("Black Monday") and was originally proposed in a Facebook post by Polish actress Krystyna Janda.
[41] In 2016, Foreign Policy magazine included Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk of the Razem party and Barbara Nowacka of Inicjatywa Polska on its annual list of the 100 most influential global thinkers for their role in organizing protests against a total ban on abortion in Poland.
It also had its symbolic dimension - crowds visually changed into a sea of umbrellas which embodied the purpose of the Black Protest - protecting women from proposed legislation that would restrict their reproductive rights.
Earlier in 2016 (in April), coat hangers were also sent by citizens to the contemporary Prime Minister of Poland, Beata Szydło, as a protest against her support for the abortion ban.
Among the best-known instances was that of Ewa Wnorowska, an educator in Zabrze who has dedicated her life to helping students at a school for children with disabilities.
Unbeknownst to her at the time of posting, the photograph gained national traction; it was being splashed over Polish newspapers, social media, and debated far and wide.
One of her male colleagues reposted the image with inflammatory comments, and lodged a formal complaint in front of the Disciplinary Board of Education against her.
Although the strikes did not result in a complete reversal of anti-abortion laws in Poland, it brought the conversation of women's reproductive rights to national attention.
[50] On 25 October, protesters staged sit-ins in Catholic churches, disrupting Sunday Mass in several cities, including Katowice and Poznań.
The Polish Ministry of Defence stated on Twitter that the Military Gendarmerie's policing role was "standard" and unrelated to the women's rights protests.
[54] UN independent human rights experts criticize the Poland court's ruling for a near complete ban on abortions on the grounds of fatal or severe foetal impairment.
[56] Since the ruling several women died from a septic shock, after the doctors refused to perform an abortion in fear of the legal persectution.
[62] Prior to the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Fundacja na Rzecz Kobiet i Planowania Rodziny (FEDERA, Foundation for Women and Family Planning) created an election guide informing voters on each party's political stance on sexual education, sexual health and women's rights.
Importantly, then-government Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc) (supported by 35.34% of voters a month after the election)[64] also did not include these demands in their programme, nor did they actively oppose them.
[63] In July 2024, a bill sponsored by the Donald Tusk government to allow abortion on request during the first trimester was rejected by the Polish lower house in a 218-215 vote.
[69] Another poll (conducted in October 2022) made by Rzeczpospolita (Polish political journalistic magazine) showed that 13.5% supported unlimited right to abortion.
