Near-total abortion ban discourages people from having children, say majority in Poland

Just over half of people in Poland believe that the recently introduced near-total ban on abortion – which prevents women from terminating pregnancies even if a fatal defect is diagnosed in the foetus – has made people more reluctant to have children. Birth rates have indeed been plummeting, though that is a longer-term trend.

The same poll also shows that the ban has caused a polarisation in views on abortion, encouraging a growing number to favour a more liberal law but also increasing the size of the small minority who want tougher rules that would bar terminations in cases of rape or if the pregnancy threatens a mother’s life or health.

The poll – carried out by United Surveys for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and RMF24 – found that a narrow majority, 52% believe the new abortion rules, which went into force in January 2021, have made Poles less likely to have children. That was a rise from 45% when the same question was asked a year ago.

Among female respondents, the figure was 67%, up from 57% a year ago. For men, the figure stood at around 35% both this year and last year.

Only 7% of people think that the new law has made people more willing to have children (up from 3% last year), while 32% think it has had no effect (down from 42% last year).

Over the last year, there have been two high-profile cases in which women have died after complications with their pregnancies. Many blamed the tragedies on doctors’ reluctance to provide abortions due to the strict new law.

Since the near-total abortion ban was introduced, the number of births in Poland has fallen to historic lows. However, that is the continuation of a longer-term trend that began before the constitutional court ruling of October 2020 that led to the stricter abortion law.

The same United Surveys poll also found that a large majority, 76%, want to liberalise the abortion law, while only 19% want to keep the current near-total ban or make it even stricter.

Respondents were asked if they want to: keep the current abortion law, which allows abortions only if pregnancies result from a criminal act or threaten the mother’s life or health; return to the previous law, which also allowed foetuses to be terminated if defects were diagnosed; move to an even more liberal law; or toughen the current law.

The largest proportion, 44%, favour introducing a law even more liberal than the one before the current near-total ban (up from 36.5% last year). In practice, that would most likely mean allowing abortion on demand, something supported by the two largest opposition parties.

Around one third (32%) want to return to the law that existed before the near-total ban was introduced (down from 43% last year). Those rules, introduced in the 1990s, were already among the toughest in Europe.

Only 12% would stick with the current rules (the same figure as last year) while 7% want a tougher law (up from 3% last year). Tightening the rules would in practice mean banning women from terminating pregnancies resulting from criminal acts and/or those that threaten the mother’s life or health.

The new poll is one of a number in the last two years that have shown strong opposition to the near-total abortion ban and growing support for allowing abortion on demand.

Main image credit: Maciej Wasilewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.