Polish MPs back limited abortion reforms, but bills face possible veto

Poland’s lower house, the Sejm, voted on 20 October to advance two measures that would ease the country’s abortion restrictions. One would remove a criminal offence covering help with, or encouragement of, an abortion outside the legal conditions. The other would restore access in certain cases involving severe foetal conditions. Neither measure has become law. [2] [3] [9]

The criminal-law measure passed by 217 votes to 213, with three abstentions. The measure concerning the grounds for abortion passed by 233 to 203, with one abstention. [2]

The proposed criminal-law change would repeal the provision that separately penalises helping or encouraging an abortion in breach of the law. It would leave in place the provision penalising someone who performs an abortion outside the permitted grounds. Polskie Radio 24 reports that the second measure would permit abortion where tests indicate a high probability of a severe, irreversible foetal abnormality or an incurable condition threatening the foetus’s life. [3] [6] [9]

Poland’s existing law already permits abortion when a pregnancy threatens the woman’s life or health, or when there is reasonable suspicion that it resulted from a criminal offence. A Nieuws.nl report that described rape or incest as the only permitted circumstances omitted the life-or-health ground. The former legal ground for foetal abnormalities ceased to apply in January 2021. [1] [4] [7]

The bills now face consideration by the Senate and, subsequently, the president. Reuters reports that President Karol Nawrocki has signalled he would block any liberalisation. That makes a veto a prospect, not a decision he has taken on these measures. Overriding a presidential veto would require a three-fifths majority in the Sejm; both bills passed with considerably smaller shares of the votes cast.