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Polish Parliament Votes To Ease Strict Abortion Laws. Poland’s lower house of parliament has approved two bills easing the country's strict abortion laws, nearly three years after Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition took power. One bill would end criminal penalties for helping someone obtain an abortion outside existing legal grounds, an offence currently punishable by up to three years in prison. The second would restore access to abortion in cases of severe and irreversible fetal abnormalities or incurable conditions threatening the fetus's viability. The measures passed the Sejm by 217 votes to 213 and 233 votes to 203 respectively and will now move to the Senate. The reforms stop short of allowing abortion on request up to 12 weeks, which Tusk's Civic Coalition had pledged during the 2023 election campaign. President Karol Nawrocki has previously said he would not sign legislation easing abortion restrictions, potentially setting up a confrontation with the government. Poland currently permits abortion when a pregnancy threatens a woman's health or life or results from a criminal act including rape or incest. The country's Constitutional Tribunal removed fetal abnormalities as grounds for abortion in 2020, triggering widespread protests before the ruling took effect in 2021.
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