WARSAW — Poland’s national elections in November marked the end of the eight-year rule by the conservative, nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, making moderate Donald Tusk prime minister. Many inside and outside of Poland were convinced that major change was on its way, especially on social policy in the historically Catholic nation.
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“This is a great day," Tusk said in his first speech to Parliament. "We will chase away the darkness, chase away the evil.”
Yet the reality of an ideologically diverse coalition following years of opposition to PiS rule may be more difficult than initially imagined. And that starts with Poland's anti-abortion laws, which remain the strictest in Europe.
The latest blow came last Friday, when Parliament failed to pass a bill decriminalizing abortion, arguably the least liberal of four proposals put forward on the issue. While the votes to kill the bill included all members of PiS, as well as the growing far-right Konfederacja party, it also included two members of the governing coalition.
Now, as politicians reckon with what to do next, activists are calling for a return to the protests that brought abortion to the forefront of Polish politics four years ago.
A surprise vote?
The defeat of the abortion rights bill in Parliament was made possible by 24 votes against and one abstention by representatives from the ruling coalition's Polish Peasant’s Party (PSL), the most conservative wing of Poland’s governing coalition.
Among them were senior members of the Polish government, including deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, and vice marshal of the Sejm Piotr Zgorzelski. Three members of Tusk’s Civic Coalition party did not participate in any of the voting , provoking additional controversy.
Prior to the election, Tusk had promised that “abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy will be legal, safe and available” within the first 100 days of his party’s leadership.
Following the vote, ruling politicians who voted for the measure expressed their outrage at their fellow MPs of the coalition. “The changes were intended to ensure the safety of women, their families and to support doctors who want to help women,” said Left (Lewica) member of Parliament Katarzyna Kotula.
There is widespread disappointment from voters opposed to Poland’s harsh abortion laws, but it also calls into question the overall unity of the coalition itself and its ability to govern effectively.
The coalition, made up of the center-right Polish Peasants Party (PSL) and Poland 2050, the Pro-European centrist Civic Coalition (KO), and the left-wing Lewica, was brought together to defeat PiS last November. But now that they're in power, coalition members are reckoning with the fact that they may find less common ground than they thought.
A harsh reality
Nowhere are the stakes higher than on the abortion issue. While ending your pregnancy in Poland is not a crime, aiding someone to have an abortion is. This includes doctors who perform abortions, as well as individuals who help women obtain abortion pills.
Prior to 2020, abortions in Poland were only allowed in three cases: when the life of the mother was at risk, in the case of a proven sexual assault (with a certificate from a prosecutor), and in the case of severe fetal abnormalities. But then Poland’s highest court struck down the third case, which had accounted for the vast majority of legal abortions in the country.
There is no clear and straightforward answer to what constitutes a threat to a woman’s health
In response, collectives such as Abortion Without Borders, based in the UK, have been helping women by mailing them abortion pills from abroad, while Polish women who can afford it, travel abroad to countries such as Germany, Czechia, Austria, or the Netherlands.
“This law creates problems for doctors and patients,” Jan Kochanowicz, a doctor who is also the director of the University Clinical Hospital in Bialystok, the largest city in northeastern Poland, wrote following a denied abortion at his workplace. “There is no clear and straightforward answer to what constitutes a threat to a woman’s health and life. Doctors are afraid to make decisions.”
The women themselves can also face harsh treatment from Polish authorities. Last year, protests reignited when Joanna, a woman from Krakow, was violently searched by police after having a legal abortion and seeking treatment in a hospital.
Earlier this year, Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported that Patient rights ombudsman Bartłomiej Chmielowiec found that there was a violation of patient rights in her case.
What’s next?
Poland and Malta, both staunchly Catholic, remain the only European Union countries where abortions are effectively outlawed.
There are three bills remaining
In Poland, there are currently three bills remaining aimed at liberalizing abortion, all proposed by parties within the ruling coalition. One would legalize abortion up to 12 weeks on demand, when the life of the mother is at risk at any point, or when the pregnancy is the result of a crime at up to 24 weeks or in the case of fetal deformities. The second would legalize abortion on the same grounds, but in the case of a crime abortion would be allowed up until the 18th week of pregnancy. The final bill would return Poland to its pre-2020 state of affairs, legalizing abortion in the case of severe fetal deformities.
Still, President of the Republic Andrzej Duda, a member of the right-wing PiS party, has said publicly in an interview with private TV network TVN24 that he would not sign any bill liberalizing abortion laws in Poland, even if they passed the lower house Sejm and Senate.
For Polish abortion rights protesters, whether their voices are aimed at their old PiS nemeses like Duda, or new holdouts in the moderate government, the time has come to take their case back on to the streets.