Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 15, 2023 / 17:15 pm
Polish lawmakers in the New Left political party introduced two bills that would liberalize the country’s abortion laws after the 2023 elections pushed the major right-wing party into the minority.
One bill would legalize elective abortions up to 12 weeks after pregnancy and the other would abolish laws that criminally punish people who assist in carrying out illegal abortions. It is unclear whether either of these bills will pass in the newly formed coalition government, which includes both left-wing and centrist parties.
Current laws prohibit all surgical and chemical abortions except when the life of the mother is at risk or the pregnancy has occurred as a result of illegal sexual activity, such as rape or incest. In Poland, women who receive abortions are not criminally punished, but anyone who assists a woman in carrying out an abortion could land up to three years in prison.
“Women’s rights are our priority,” the left-wing party stated in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As the Left, we remain faithful to our ideals and demands with which we went to the elections on Oct. 15 — therefore, as promised, we are submitting bills liberalizing the abortion law.”