Polish election: Tusk party urged to show it is not ‘deceiving women’ on abortion

Five years after near-total ban on abortion, campaigners say Sunday’s elections will be critical to see if promised change happens

Ashifa Kassam, European community affairs correspondent
Thu 15 May 2025

Poland’s presidential elections are a “historic, groundbreaking” chance for Donald Tusk’s centrist party to show it was not trying to “deceive women” when it promised to change some of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, campaigners have said.

Voters across Poland will head to the polls on Sunday in the first round of the elections to replace Andrzej Duda, the current president who is aligned with the former rightwing government and has veto power over legislation.

Polls have suggested the frontrunner is Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, whose centrist Civic Coalition led by the prime minister, Donald Tusk, has promised to relax abortion laws. But in recent weeks his lead has narrowed and support has climbed for Karol Nawrocki of the populist, anti-abortion Law and Justice (PiS) party, suggesting the two could be pitted against each other in a runoff vote on 1 June.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/15/poland-elections-tusk-centrists-abortion-laws-campaign-europe

‘Sculpting within the law’: Where does Poland stand on abortion?

Ada Petriczko
May 12, 2025

WARSAW - Two years after Donald Tusk became Poland's prime minister and promised to reform strict abortion rules, many of the women who supported him are disillusioned and say a May 18 presidential vote is unlikely to bring the change they were promised.

This is despite the fact that a liberal candidate could replace conservative President Andrzej Duda, who has long opposed easing some of Europe's strictest abortion laws.

"I'm still shocked that they reached for our votes when they needed them, and then completely discarded us," said activist Anna Pięta, who helped create a viral campaign that urged women to vote in 2023.

Continued: https://www.context.news/money-power-people/polish-presidential-vote-unlikely-to-resolve-abortion-impasse

Polish presidential candidate storms hospital protesting the ‘Anita’ abortion dispute

Paulina Mozolewska, Euractiv
Apr 17, 2025

A Polish gynaecologist was barricaded in an office for over 50 minutes as police intervened in an escalating confrontation with protestors.

Grzegorz Braun, a Konfederacja MEP and Polish presidential candidate, stormed a hospital in Oleśnica on Wednesday, 16 April, accompanied by supporters. Braun attempted a so-called 'citizen's arrest' of Dr Gizela Jagielska, a gynaecologist who performs legal abortions.

Braun accused her of murder and demanded her detention.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/news/polish-presidential-candidate-storms-hospital-protesting-the-anita-abortion-dispute/

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/

Polish prosecutors and ombudsman investigate death of pregnant woman in hospital

The Canadian Press
Wed, June 7, 2023

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prosecutors and the patients’ ombudsman in Poland are investigating the death of a pregnant woman at a hospital, amid the family’s accusations that the doctors kept them in the dark as to the danger and didn't take proper steps to save her.

The death last month of the 33-year-old woman was the second such case reported in southern Poland since September and raised questions whether doctors were afraid to perform abortions to save women with complicated pregnancies.

Continued: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/polish-prosecutors-ombudsman-investigate-death-172233152.html

07.06.2023

Poland maternal deaths

Poland’s Abortion Ban Protests Changed the Country Forever

Restrictions are still in place, but the Catholic consensus that dominated Polish politics is over.

By Joy Neumeyer
NOVEMBER 8, 2021

In October 2020, after Poland’s constitutional court imposed a near-total ban on abortion, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Demonstrators across the country were united by the lightning bolt symbol of the All-Polish Women’s Strike and a simple slogan: “Fuck off.”

One year later, their campaign may seem at first glance to have reached a dead end. The court’s decision remains in effect, and Women’s Strike leaders face criminal charges for actions committed during the protests. But the movement’s apparent defeat conceals its deep impact. The Catholic consensus that dominated Polish politics since the fall of communism is over, with far-reaching effects: Public acceptance of abortion is up, support for the ruling party has fallen, and progressive activists are building new coalitions.

Continued: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/08/poland-abortion-ban-women-strike-catholic-religion-progressive-politics/