The ruling sparked nationwide protests, some of which targeted the Catholic Church. Protesters disrupted Masses while holding signs supporting abortion, left graffiti on Church property, vandalized statues of St. John Paul II, and chanted slogans at clergy.
The government responded by delaying publication of the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling, which has no legal power until it appears in the Journal of Laws.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament passed a resolution last month condemning Poland's "de facto ban on the right to abortion."
Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, president of Poland's bishops' conference, criticized the resolution.
He said: "The right to life is a fundamental human right. It always takes precedence over the right to choose, because no person can authoritatively allow the possibility of killing another."

Following the burial of the unborn children in Gończyce, Bishop Gurda was invited to strike a bell blessed by Pope Francis in September, along with others present for the ceremony.
The Voice of the Unborn bell was commissioned by the Yes to Life Foundation (Fundacja Życiu Tak in Polish).
The bell is decorated with a cast of an ultrasound image of an unborn child and a quotation from Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko: "A child's life begins under the mother's heart."
In addition, the bell features two tablets, symbolizing the Ten Commandments. On the first are the words of Jesus, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law" (Matthew 5:17), and on the second is the commandment, "You shall not kill" (Exodus 20:13).
Pope Francis was the first person to ring the symbolic bell after giving it his blessing in a courtyard in Vatican City after his general audience.
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The pope noted that the bell would "accompany events aimed at remembering the value of human life from conception to natural death."
"May its peal awaken the consciences of legislators and all people of good will in Poland and the whole world," he said Sept. 23.