Far-right Polish MEP threatens doctor with ‘citizen’s arrest’ over late-term abortion

Grzegorz Braun’s actions have been condemned by both the Polish justice minister and the country’s equality minister.

April 18, 2025
By Claudia Chiappa

Far-right European Parliament lawmaker and long-shot Polish presidential candidate Grzegorz Braun is facing a potential investigation after he stormed a hospital on Wednesday and threatened a doctor with a citizen's arrest for performing a legal late-term abortion.

Gizela Jagielska said she was signing some administrative documents when a crowd of about 30 men, led by Braun, burst into the hospital around 11 a.m. She said the men surrounded her, stopped her from leaving and told her she should be arrested.

Continued : https://www.politico.eu/article/right-wing-poland-mep-grzegorz-braun-threaten-doctor-citizen-arrest-late-term-abortion-gizela-jagielska/

Poland’s abortion law bickering plagues Tusk coalition

The liberalization of abortion rights was a major election promise made by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. But the issue is controversial and there are major hurdles to a new law.

Jacek Lepiarz
April 15, 2024

Polish women had to wait a long time for this day. Some four months after the center-left coalition under Donald Tusk took office, the liberalization of abortion was finally on the agenda for the Sejm, the country's lower house of parliament. The debate was fierce.

"Old men in suits will no longer decide what women must do with their bodies," shouted Anna Maria Zukowska, a member of parliament for the co-governing The Left alliance, at the presentation of the bill on Friday. "No more hell for women!"

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/polands-abortion-law-bickering-plagues-tusk-coalition/a-68812592

PM Donald Tusk faces uphill battle on reforming Polish abortion rights

Polish lawmakers voted Friday to advance bills that would lift a near-total ban on abortion in place since 2020, reviving an extremely polarising debate in the traditionally Roman Catholic country. But by launching an effort to liberalise abortion laws, Prime Minister Donald Tusk is moving to fulfil a campaign promise.

April 12, 2024
By: Sonya CIESNIK

Members of the Sejm (lower house) voted to advance four separate abortion bills on Friday that would help bring Polish law into line with widespread European standards.

Two of the bills would guarantee access to abortion through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, including the one introduced by Tusk’s Civic Platform party. A third proposes decriminalising offering assistance to a woman in terminating a pregnancy, currently punishable by three years in prison, while a fourth, stricter bill would keep the ban in place but allow abortion in cases of severe foetal defects.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240412-pm-donald-tusk-faces-uphill-battle-reforming-polish-abortion-rights-poland

Polish ruling coalition partners clash after speaker delays bills to liberalise abortion law

MAR 6, 2024
Notes from Poland

The left and centre-right wings of Poland’s broad ruling coalition have clashed following a decision by the speaker of parliament to delay the processing of bills aimed at ending the near-total abortion ban introduced under the former government.

On Monday, Szymon Hołownia announced that the abortion bills would not come before parliament until 11 April, four days after local elections take place around Poland. He argued that this was necessary to avoid the legislation becoming a victim of the ongoing election campaign.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/03/06/polish-ruling-coalition-partners-clash-after-speaker-delays-bills-to-liberalise-abortion-law/

06.03.2024

near-total abortion ban

Szymon Hołownia

Third Way party

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz

Center-right group in Polish ruling coalition submits “compromise” abortion bill to return to pre-2021 law

FEB 24, 2024
Notes from Poland

A bill that would liberalise Poland’s abortion law has been submitted by the centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga), which is the more conservative wing of the ruling coalition that took power in December.

The group wants to restore the right to terminate pregnancies in cases where a birth defect is diagnosed in the foetus. Such abortions were banned under the former conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/02/24/center-right-group-in-polish-ruling-coalition-submits-compromise-abortion-bill-to-return-to-pre-2021-law/

24.02.2024

Law and Justice partyp

Will Poland’s New Government Legalize Abortion?

Despite campaign promises, the fight for abortion rights seems far from over.

FEBRUARY 12, 2024
Foreign Policy

After Poland’s parliamentary election in October, many voters were hopeful that the new government would finally scrap the country’s strict abortion law. The law, which had been in place for three decades, was tightened further in 2020, leading to a near-total ban on abortion.

The election ended the eight-year rule of Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), with the opposition winning enough seats to form a coalition government. In the lead-up to the vote, two of the three groups that made up the opposition—the centrist Civic Coalition and the Left—pledged to legalize abortion up to or through 12 weeks of pregnancy; the former promised to do so within the first 100 days in office.

Continued: https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/02/12/poland-abortion-rights-pro-choice-election-coalition-pis-law-ban/

Tusk faces a big fight overturning Poland’s abortion ban

The prime minister says easing Poland’s near-total abortion ban is a priority, but he’s facing stiff opposition from within.

FEBRUARY 9, 2024
BY WOJCIECH KOŚĆ

WARSAW — Poland’s new government won power thanks to the votes of millions of women, but it's now split over an issue that garnered their support — easing abortion rules.

The far-right nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government ruled from 2015 until last October and, in alliance with the Roman Catholic Church, espoused toughening Poland's already very restrictive abortion rules.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-tusk-faces-big-fight-overturning-abortion-ban/

Police intervention against woman in hospital after taking abortion pills triggers outcry in Poland

JUL 19, 2023
Notes from Poland

Police intervention against a woman hospitalised after taking abortion pills has caused an outcry in Poland. Opposition politicians have condemned the incident – parts of which were caught on film – and called for the dismissal of the chief of police.

Officers are said to have surrounded the woman, who was reportedly ordered to undress, do squats and cough even though she was still bleeding. They also seized the woman’s computer and phone.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/07/19/police-intervention-against-woman-in-hospital-after-taking-abortion-pills-triggers-outcry-in-poland/

Outcry in Poland over abortion law

Two Polish hospitals refused to terminate the pregnancy of an underage rape victim. The case has sparked controversy over the country's restrictive legislation, with women's rights activists insisting it must be eased.

Jacek Lepiarz
February 5, 2023

A scandal is raging in Polish politics and in the media, concering the shocking case of a 14-year-old rape victim. The girl, who is from the Podlaskie region in northeastern Poland and has mental disabilities, was raped by her own uncle and became pregnant as a result. She was unaware of her condition, but her aunt noticed it and tried to help her get an abortion.

Although the girl had written confirmation from the public prosecutor that she was pregnant as the result of a crime, which gave her the right to a legal abortion, two hospitals in the region refused to carry out the procedure. The province of Podlaskie on the Belarusian border is a bastion of the right-wing conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has been in power in Poland since 2015.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/poland-outcry-over-abortion-law/a-64586531

Polish health minister ‘appalled’ girl, 14, struggled to get abortion after rape

Doctors at several hospitals cited a conscience clause to avoid treating the teenager who has a mental disability

Agence France-Presse in Warsaw
Mon 30 Jan 2023

Poland’s health minister has weighed in on a high-profile rape case, saying it was “unacceptable” that a mentally disabled 14-year-old girl struggled to get a legal abortion.

The case, in which doctors at several hospitals used a conscience clause to avoid carrying out the procedure, has sparked renewed calls to ease the Catholic country’s abortion laws, which are among Europe’s most stringent.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/30/polish-health-minister-appalled-girl-14-struggled-to-get-abortion-after