Abortion Laws in Poland

By Emilia Ord, Year 11 North London Collegiate

Poland has a contentious history in regards to abortions and women’s rights. In 1956 under Communist rule, Poland legalised abortion in cases where the woman had "difficult living conditions". This alteration in the law brought about huge change since the previous law only allowed a woman to terminate her pregnancy if it resulted from a criminal act. The new legislation which permitted terminations under less stringent criteria meant that women from countries where abortions were restricted, such as Sweden, travelled to Poland to carry out safe and accessible abortions. This is a rather stark contrast to the state of reproductive health in Poland today.

After the fall of Communism in 1989 the new democracy formed was heavily reliant on the Catholic Church for support. Consequently, the Church has undeniably imprinted its ecclesiastical values on legislation passed by the government, notably laws regarding reproductive freedoms and homosexuality. Therefore, Poland is one of the few countries in the world to backtrack on lenient legislation and revert back to harsher abortion policies, as in 1993 they removing the clause "difficult living conditions" as ground for an abortion. The stance of the Church on abortions is pro-life, citing the sanctity of life as a key reason why abortions are unjustifiable.

In 2016 the right-wing conservative government in Poland attempted to completely ban abortions, in retaliation 30,000 people went on strike across the country to protest against the law. Three days after 56

this herculean effort, lawmakers voted against the new law and it did not pass. Poland and Malta are still the only EU member states that have highly restrictive laws on abortion. Many Polish people want to adopt a more secular system of government like that of most of the EU.

Recently in the media, there has been a lot of focus upon the abortion protests in Poland which were precipitated by the ruling in October 2020 that abortion due to foetal defects was unconstitutional. Abortion, according to the new law, will only be permissible in Poland in the case of rape, incest or a threat to the mother’s life which constitutes approximately 2% of legal abortions conducted in recent years.

These vast protests highlight changing public opinion in Poland, as swathes of people -mostly young women- are supporting pro-choice ideologies which counter those of the Church. The marches are also indicative of a more fundamental schism: many of these protesters want separation of the Church and State. It seems that in Poland, the Church is beginning to lose its influence as a poll conducted last year by IBRiS research discovered that fewer than 40% of Polish people trusted the church, compared with 58% in 2016.

These protests also draw on power from the global “Me Too” movement which brought gender equality to the forefront, yet the 57