Poland: Abortion rights, the big absentee in the presidential election

13/06/2025
Piotr Lapinski

Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, was elected President of Poland on Sunday 1 June 2025. While this country is one of the most restrictive European states with abortion legislation, this election raises concerns about the future of abortion rights.

13 June 2025. Every year, thousands of women leave Poland to terminate their pregnancies. Those who can’t, do so in unsafe conditions, risking their lives. This well-documented reality was formally recognized in an investigative report published in 2024 by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The report concluded that the criminalization of abortion assistance, combined with rare legal exceptions and frequent inaccessibility of services, prevents the majority of Polish women from exercising the right to safe and legal abortion.

Continued: https://www.fidh.org/en/region/europe-central-asia/poland/poland-abortion-rights-the-big-absentee-in-the-presidential-election

Poland’s Tusk hits a wall on legalizing abortion

Failure of abortion vote raises big questions of whether Tusk can deliver the key social reforms he promised in last year’s election.

JULY 24, 2024
BY WOJCIECH KOŚĆ

WARSAW — Donald Tusk is facing his most severe political setback since becoming Polish prime minister as he hits a brick wall on one of his biggest campaign promises: Increasing access to abortion.

Tusk and his coalition partners pulled off a surprisingly convincing election win in October on the back of pledges to restore the rule of law and push through liberalizing reforms, such as allowing same-sex partnerships and overturning the country’s draconian anti-abortion regulations.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-prime-minister-donald-tusk-abortion-laws-protests/

Conservative opposition leader Kaczynski willing to support liberalising Poland’s abortion law

APR 14, 2024
Notes from Poland

Conservative opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński has indicated he would be willing to support softening Poland’s near-total abortion ban, which was introduced under the rule of his own Law and Justice (PiS) party. But he warns this could only happen by changing the constitution.

The move marks an apparent shift from Kaczyński, who has previously expressed expressed support for the near-total ban. Another leading PiS figure, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, has reiterated his own support for softening the law.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/04/14/conservative-opposition-leader-kaczynski-willing-to-support-liberalising-polands-abortion-law/

14.04.2024

Law and Justice party

Poland is debating an end to its near-total abortion ban, setting up a heated political fight

Rob Picheta, CNN
Thu April 11, 2024

Poland is debating changes to its near-total abortion ban on Thursday, re-opening one of the country’s thorniest social and political debates in an effort to overhaul some of the strictest laws on reproductive rights in Europe.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party has proposed changing the law – which currently prohibits terminations in almost all cases – to allow for abortions up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/11/europe/poland-abortion-debate-tusk-intl/index.html

11.04.2024

Law and Justice party

Poland shows the difficulties of trying to reverse an abortion ban

By Kate Brady and Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post
January 27, 2024

PRENZLAU, Germany — Only 30 miles separate the two clinics where gynecologist Maria Kubisa works, but what’s legal at her clinic on this side of the border would be criminal at the clinic back in Poland.

So women have been crossing over to seek help from Kubisa on this side, especially in the past three years, since a Polish court backed by a ring-wing government imposed a near-ban on abortion.

Unlocked: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/27/poland-abortion-12-weeks-donald-tusk/

Poland’s new government to propose legislation easing near-total abortion ban

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday his government will propose legislation to liberalise a near-total abortion ban and ease restrictions on the morning-after pill, which would dramatically reverse the previous administration’s policies.

24/01/2024

Both bills face an uphill battle. It is unclear if they will garner enough support to pass in parliament. Even if they do, the laws could still be vetoed by the conservative president allied with right-wing populists.

Poland saw a rollback of women’s reproductive rights during the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party’s eight-year rule, targeting access to abortion as well as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and emergency contraception.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240124-poland-new-government-legislation-easing-abortion-ban

24.01.2024

Law and Justice party

Majority of Poles support legal abortion – poll

The First News
DECEMBER 18, 2023

Legal access to abortion without the need to state a reason is supported by 57 percent of the Polish public, a new poll has revealed.

The survey, conducted by the IPSOS pollster for the More in Common Poland social initiative, aimed at studying factors that polarise society, also showed that of those that support the general availability of abortion, 38 percent would like it to be possible up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and 19 percent up to the 24th week.

Continued: https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/majority-of-poles-support-legal-abortion---poll-43310

18.12.2023

Law and Justice party