Poland Looks Ready To Give Up On Tighter Abortion Restrictions
Janek Skarzynski / AFP / Getty Images
The Polish government appeared on Wednesday to back away from a proposal that would all but ban abortion, two days after tens of thousands of Polish women flooded town squares across the country to speak out against the bill.
Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin told Polish media that Monday’s protest “gave us food for thought and taught us humility.” He insisted that the country wouldn’t ban abortion in cases of rape or when a mother’s life is in danger.
The draft bill would tighten Poland’s abortion regulations, already among the strictest in Europe, by eliminating exceptions for rape and for fatal fetal abnormalities, and by narrowing an exception for saving the life of a mother to cases where a pregnant woman is in “immediate” fatal danger.
Poland’s parliament referred the bill to a legislative committee last week for consideration, sparking wide protest on social media. On Monday, tens of thousands of women, dressed in all black and fighting off rain, boycotted school, work and childcare duties to protest in the streets. Women, and some men, in several other global cities joined them in solidarity.
Poland’s foreign minister initially scoffed at the protesters, saying, “Let them play.” But the government’s tune changed drastically on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Beata Szydlo on Tuesday said at a news conference that the ruling Law and Justice Party “was not working and is not working on any law that would change the currently binding regulations.”
The proposal was brought to the floor in Parliament as a citizens’ initiative presented from the Polish public, rather than being introduced by any particular party. The initiative was backed by 450,000 signatures and heavily supported by the Catholic Church.
A competing pro-choice citizens’ initiative introduced the same day, with 250,000 signatures, was immediately defeated.