Polish parliament votes to liberalise abortion rights

WARSAW, Poland (AFP)—Poland's parliament voted on Tuesday to liberalise abortion laws in the traditionally Catholic country, which has some of the EU's most restrictive rules on ending pregnancies. But the two bills, backed by pro-European Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist government, are expected to be vetoed by the country's conservative-nationalist president. The first bill -- submitted by Tusk's Civic Coalition (KO) party and the Left, would partially decriminalise the termination of a pregnancy and decriminalise assisting abortion -- which is currently punishable by up to three years in prison. The second, submitted by more conservative coalition partners Poland 2050 and the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), would reverse the effects of a 2020 ruling by Poland's highest court, the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), which outlawed abortion in cases of severe fetal deformities. The first bill passed with 217 votes in favour, 213 against and three abstentions. The more conservative second bill passed with 233 votes in favour, 203 against and one abstention. Tusk's government promised to liberalise the country's abortion laws ahead of its 2023 election victory, but divisions within the coalition have slowed progress. Currently, abortion is only legal when a pregnancy results from a criminal act, like rape or incest, or when it threatens the life or health of the mother. The 2020 decision by the Constitutional Tribunal, which the second bill seeks to overturn, ruled that severe fetal abnormalities were not legal grounds for abortion. Before the ruling, 98 percent of legal abortions in Poland were performed for this reason. According to data from Poland's National Health Fund (NFZ), only 573 abortions took place in Polish public hospitals in the first half of 2026. Last year, public hospitals carried out 851 abortions, according to the NFZ. The restrictions set off a torrent of protests across the country, which became the largest demonstrations in Poland since the 1989 anti-communist movement. President Karol Nawrocki, who was endorsed by the then ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that championed and upheld the 2020 court ruling, is expected to veto both bills.