Poland Delays Implementing Abortion Ban As Protests Continue

Warsaw, Poland’s capital, has been roiled by protests since the abortion verdict on October 22. (Wikimedia Commons)

Poland's right-wing government is delaying the ratification and implementation of a new abortion law that has been met with two weeks of nationwide protests. A government official said on November 6 that leaders are taking time to discuss the ruling and find a peaceful solution. 

The country is experiencing the single biggest set of demonstrations in its history. More than 100,000 protestors marched through Warsaw on October 31, and as many as 500,000 people protested across the country following a verdict by the Constitutional Tribunal that ruled that abortions for reasons of fetal abnormality violate the Polish constitution. If the law is implemented, the already-small number of legal abortions in Poland would be outlawed. 

For now, the legislature is attempting to calm the unrest by declining to acknowledge the October 22 verdict by the Tribunal. This keeps the verdict from going into effect, but it raises controversial questions as decisions should be instated immediately, according to Poland's legal code.

“This delay looks like they’re playing for time and waiting for the protesters to tire,” said Olgierd Annusewicz, a political scientist at Warsaw University. “It looks like grassroots protests aren’t fading, for now.”

Poland’s cabinet has previously delayed instating rulings it disagreed with, but this time the move is regarded as blatant and overt.

"This is by far the worst option," said Marcin Matczak, a law professor at Warsaw University. "It boils down to this approach that if someone does not like a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal, he may not publish it."

Strong anti-abortion government agencies are pushing the administration to publish the verdict, a stance further backed by the Roman Catholic Church, which is the dominant religion in Poland. 

Surveys show a large drop in support for the ruling conservative Law and Justice party and for its leader, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. In response, the Law and Justice Party blamed the protests for the rise in Poland’s COVID-19 cases. 

As cases surged to almost 25,000 on November 3, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced tighter lockdown restrictions, citing figures connecting the protests to as many as 5,000 infections every day. 

"I'm asking everyone who wants to protest to please protest on the internet," Morawiecki said Wednesday.