The Polish Sejm voted on October 20 for amendments to the Criminal Code that partially decriminalize abortion in the country.
This was reported by Onet media.
These amendments allow abortion in cases of severe fetal malformations. The deputies also repealed two articles that provide for up to three years in prison for illegal abortion and for assisting in it.
At the same time, doctors, nurses, and midwives will not be criminally liable for terminating a pregnancy if it is necessary to save the womanʼs life or health.
On October 21, Zbigniew Bohutski, the head of the office of Polish President Karol Nawrocki, did not directly answer whether the president would veto these amendments. He only said that the president “supports the protection of life from conception to natural death”.
What preceded
Currently, in Poland, abortion is only permitted in two cases: when the pregnancy threatens the womanʼs life or health and when it is the result of a crime. In the latter case, abortion is possible up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
Poland has banned abortions due to severe fetal malformations or an incurable life-threatening illness since January 2021. The changes follow a 2020 ruling by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal that declared such grounds for abortion unconstitutional.
Deputies from the then-ruling Law and Justice party declared that terminating a pregnancy, even in the case of serious fetal defects, is a violation of the Constitution, according to which every life requires protection.
This decision sparked mass protests across the country at the time. Protests of several thousand people broke out in many cities several times. They became the largest anti-government demonstrations in Poland since the fall of communism in 1989.
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