Polish parliamentary committee rejects bill to ban abortion

The decision by the Polish parliament’s justice and human rights committee followed a motion by an MP from Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, and surprised many.

The move came just ahead of a European Parliament debate on women’s rights in Poland scheduled for Wednesday evening.

A controversial citizens’ bill to tighten staunchly Catholic Poland’s already restrictive abortion laws last week cleared a key parliamentary hurdle and was sent by MPs to the committee stage.

The bill will now be sent back for MPs to debate at a full session of the Polish parliament.

On Monday, women dressed in sombre colours took to the streets of Polish cities in a so-called Black Protest against the bill.

The initiative, by the Stop Abortion group, calls for a total ban on abortion – even in cases of rape and incest – and would make women who terminate pregnancies liable to jail sentences.

At the same time, members of parliament rejected a rival bid to liberalise abortion laws.

Politicians from Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS), which swept to power in elections last year, have stressed that the proposal to ban abortion is not an initiative by the party but by a group of citizens.

According to the Wprost weekly, Poland’s minister of science and higher education, Jarosław Gowin, said on Tuesday: “The proposal for introducing a complete ban on abortion will definitely not pass.”

Gowin was quoted as saying: “Abortion will not be banned in cases of rape or a threat to the woman’s life or health.”

Poland already has one of the strictest laws on abortion in Europe, adopted in 1993 and allowing terminations only in the case of rape or incest, when the pregnancy endangers the mother, or the foetus is severely deformed.

After a meeting of the Conference of the Polish Episcopate, Polish Catholic bishops said on Wednesday they do not support measures that would see women facing punishment for having abortions.

(pk)