Poland’s Parliament Debates Total Ban on Abortion

Women attend anti-government protest in Warsaw in support of abortion rights (Source: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP/Getty Images)

On September 22, the national parliament of Poland began debating a bill that would outlaw abortion in all non-life threatening cases and increase the jail penalty for performing or having an abortion to five years. According to the BBC, the bill was introduced by the ruling Law and Justice Party after the advocacy group Stop Abortion collected over 450,000 signatures in support of the ban. Stop Advocacy claims that the legal basis for a total abortion ban lies in Poland’s constitution, which includes a clause that guarantees the legal protection of human life. The bill has raised tensions among many women’s rights groups, who protested in major cities across the country. Through the efforts of the Federation of Women and Family Planning, 215,000 signatures were obtained to introduce a competing bill that would legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and mandate sexual education in schools. In an article submitted to the Guardian, Krystyna Kacpura, the head of the Federation of Women and Family Planning, states that over 150,000 illegal abortions were obtained by Polish women because of the existing law, and a stricter one would only make it worse.

Poland’s attempts to ban abortion have not gone unnoticed by the international community. The Guardian reports that the European Union has opened an investigation examining whether the Law and Justice Party has violated the “democracy, human rights and the rule of law” section of its charter for interference in Poland’s courts as well as the new law. According to Euronews, if the bill passes, Poland will become the third state in Europe (along with Malta and Vatican City) and the ninth in the world to completely ban abortion.