Polish president vows to veto bill softening abortion law

Poland’s conservative president, Andrzej Duda, has vowed to veto a bill softening the country’s strict abortion laws that has been proposed by the more liberal governing coalition.

The proposed law would decriminalise the act of helping a woman obtain an unlawful abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy. Under the current law, someone can be jailed for up to three years for doing so.

Asked by broadcaster TVN whether he would sign the bill into law if it is passed by parliament, Duda replied: “No, because for me abortion is the killing of people.”

He emphasised that a pregnant woman who obtains an illegal abortion should not herself be penalised, as is the case under the current law. “However, as for other people who in some way participate in this procedure, in an illegal manner, their penalisation is a completely different matter,” he added.

Poland’s law criminalising assistance in obtaining illegal abortions has seen regular use.

Last year, a women’s rights activist was convicted for sending self-administered abortion pills to a pregnant woman; a gynaecologist was charged with unlawfully helping her patients obtain abortions; and a man was indicted for helping his partner terminate her pregnancy.

In November, The Left (Lewica), which is one of the members of Poland’s ruling coalition, proposed a new law that would decriminalise and depenalise those who help women obtain illegal abortions.

In April, it was one of four bills aimed at softening Poland’s strict abortion laws that were approved by the government’s majority in the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament, for further legislative work. The other three relate to ending the near-total abortion ban introduced in Poland in 2021.

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In late June, a parliamentary committee tasked with working on those bills finished its deliberations on the one relating to decriminalising abortion assistance. The legislation is due to return to the Sejm this week, with a vote scheduled for Friday, reports the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily.

The bill would completely decriminalise abortion assistance up to the 12th week of pregnancy and also remove penalties for abortion assistance in any case where prenatal testing or other medical evidence indicates a high probability of severe and irreversible birth defects in the foetus.

It remains unclear, however, whether it will obtain the support of a majority of MPs. The most conservative member of the ruling coalition, the centre-right Polish People’s Party (PSL), has expressed reservations about the bill. In April, seven PSL MPs voted against allowing it to proceed to committee while another 15 abstained.

The ruling coalition currently has 247 MPs in the 460-seat Sejm. Given that the conservative opposition is certain not to vote for decriminalising abortion assistance, that means the government would require almost all of its MPs to support the bill to obtain a majority.

Today, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is also leader of the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), the largest member of the ruling coalition, made clear his support for the bill.

“We will vote to decriminalise abortion,” he declared in a tweet this morning. “We’re done with the discussion, it’s time for decisions.”

A poll published today, conducted by United Surveys for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and RMF FM, found that a narrow majority of respondents, 53%, support the bill decriminalising abortion assistance while 36% are opposed to it.

In his tweet, Tusk also said that his party would support a bill introducing same-sex civil partnerships that was this week added to the government’s legislative agenda. That proposed law also faces possible opposition from parts of PSL.

Duda, in his interview with TVN yesterday, was also asked if he would sign the bill on same-sex partnerships if it is approved by parliament. He answered that “he needs to see the law in detail” first. Earlier this year, his chief of staff said that “the president does not support civil partnerships”.

The president, who is aligned with the national-conservative former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, has regularly criticised and opposed the policies of Tusk’s government since it took office in December.

Many parts of the government’s legislative agenda – including judicial reform – are impossible to implement with Duda holding the presidency and its veto power. But his second and final term in office ends next year, when Poles will vote to elect a new president.

Main image credit: Jakub Szymczuk/KPRP

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.