Poland’s lower house approved two bills to loosen abortion laws, ending criminal penalties for assistance and restoring rights for fetal abnormalities. President Karol Nawrocki is expected to veto the measures.
Poland’s lower chamber of parliament, the Sejm, approved two bills on Tuesday evening that would loosen the country’s strict abortion restrictions. The measures mark a legislative breakthrough for Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition, which took power in 2023 promising to restore reproductive rights. However, the bills face a likely veto from President Karol Nawrocki, an ally of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The first bill, submitted by Tusk’s Civic Coalition and the Left, decriminalizes assisting or encouraging an abortion performed outside legally permitted grounds. Currently, this offense carries sentences of up to three years in prison. The bill also protects doctors, nurses, and midwives from prosecution when they terminate a pregnancy due to a threat to the woman’s life or health, or strong indications of a serious, irreversible fetal condition. This measure passed with 217 votes in favor, 213 against, and three abstentions.
The second bill, submitted by coalition partners Poland 2050 and the Polish People’s Party (PSL), aims to overturn a 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling that banned abortions in cases of severe fetal abnormalities. It restores the right to terminate a pregnancy when doctors identify a severe and irreversible fetal abnormality or an incurable illness threatening the fetus’s viability. It also sets deadlines for hospitals to provide lawful abortions and requires written explanations for refusals. This bill passed with 233 votes in favor, 203 against, and one abstention.
Both bills now move to the Senate, where they are expected to pass, but their final fate remains uncertain. President Karol Nawrocki stated before his 2025 election that he would not sign legislation easing abortion rules. Overriding a presidential veto requires a three-fifths majority in the Sejm, which the Tusk-led coalition does not possess.
Włodzimierz Czarzasty, speaker of the Sejm, criticized the potential veto before the votes. "By refusing to sign [the abortion] legislation, the president is hurting people," Czarzasty said. "If he wants to hurt women, he will hurt them. I think women will see that and hear that."
The proposals had lingered in a parliamentary committee for two years before surfacing, driven by the campaign heating up 12 months before the next general election, slated for late 2027. The governing agreement with the more conservative PSL and Poland 2050 has previously prevented broader liberalization. In July 2024, the Sejm rejected an attempt to decriminalize assistance with abortion by 218 votes to 215, after most PSL lawmakers joined the right-wing opposition in voting against it.
Neither bill allows abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, a promise made by Tusk’s Civic Coalition during the 2023 election campaign. The multi-party coalition includes many conservatives and lacks agreement on liberalization to this extent.
Katarzyna Kotula, Poland’s government equality commissioner and a lawmaker from the Left, supported the changes. "The state trusts women. A woman who terminates her own pregnancy is already exempt from criminal punishment. It’s time to stop punishing everyone who loves us, worries about us and respects our choices," Kotula said on X.
However, women’s rights organizations expressed skepticism. The Legalna Aborcja (Legal Abortion) NGO stated on X, "What does this mean for women who need abortions now? Nothing, because none of these projects would help them." Education Minister Barbara Nowacka acknowledged the incremental nature of the change but supported the bills. "But I voted for it and will always vote for every change, even the smallest one, that brings Polish women closer to full rights over their own lives," Nowacka said.
The vote highlights the deep political divide in Poland over reproductive rights, pitting the pro-European Tusk coalition against the conservative PiS-aligned presidency. While the bills represent a partial reversal of the near-total ban established after the 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling, they fall short of the access available in most of the EU. The potential presidential veto underscores the legislative gridlock that may persist until the 2027 general elections, leaving the legal status of abortion assistance and fetal abnormality exceptions in limbo.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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