Polish lawmakers push on with near-total ban on abortion

Ruling PiS party committed to law banning most terminations and making maximum jail term for practitioners five years

Agence France-Presse in Warsaw

Friday 23 September 2016 14.33 BST, The Guardian

Rightwing lawmakers are pushing ahead with a near-total ban on abortion in devoutly Catholic Poland, while rejecting a rival bid to liberalise an existing law which is already among the most restrictive in Europe.
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The governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which controls parliament, has sent to committee a bill that would allow terminations only if the mother’s life was at risk, and increase the maximum jail term for practitioners from two years to five.

The citizen’s initiative tabled in parliament by the Stop Abortion coalition would also make mothers liable to prison terms, though judges could waive punishment.

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Source: The Guardian