The Diet will decide the fate of a bill decriminalizing abortion

The discussion of the projects of the Left and the Civic Coalition (they contain practically identical solutions, boiling down to legalizing abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy without restriction and at a later stage, when the prerequisites are present, as they are now, including the premise of severe fetal defects challenged by the Constitutional Court in the fall of 2020) and the Third Way (the project restores the so-called abortion compromise from before Julia Przyłębska's CT ruling) lasted several hours.

Speaking on behalf of the Left, Katharine Ueberhan assessed that the current legislation needs to be changed because it does not work. Women benefit from abortion, but at the same time the ban on abortions has become the cause of at least a few recorded deaths of patients. - It's time to change this and guarantee women's access to health, because abortion is health. Its ban destroys health and kills. The bill proposes to guarantee access to abortion until the end of the 12th week, and in certain cases beyond 12 t.c. The bill also proposes additional regulation of the conscience clause to curb its abuse at the expense of patients, as well as decriminalization of abortions and assistance in terminating pregnancies, Katherine Ueberhan pointed out.

The MP also pointed out that at least seven women died in Polish hospitals after the Constitutional Court's ruling that excluded one of the grounds for terminating a pregnancy (due to fetal defects). The vast majority of abortions in Poland are performed by pharmacological methods, outside the health care system.

- We conclude that abortion and post-abortion care must be accessible and of good quality. The abortion ban that is in place now is torture. Any woman who wants an abortion will simply do it. The question is whether she will do it legally and safely," said MP Monika Rosa, presenting the Civic Coalition's project.

As Żaneta Cwalina-Śliwowska of Poland 2050 said, although her party does not rule out working on further liberalization of abortion law, the first step should be to reverse the legal consequences of the CT ruling. Poland 2050 takes the position that a threat to mental health should also be a rationale for aborting a pregnancy (this is also the case, at least in theory). According to the Third Way bill, once the premises exist, a woman should be given an abortion within 72 hours at the latest.

- We can assume that this solution will be approved by the Sejm and the president, which will already provide pregnant Polish women with peace of mind and a sense of security, she argued. The president's approval is crucial here, as Andrzej Duda announced on Tuesday that he would definitely not sign the bill decriminalizing aiding and aborting. The second reading and completion of work on the Left's bill, which received a positive recommendation from the Commission, is scheduled for the Sejm session on July 11-12.

The projects have been referred for further work.