Civic bill proposing to ban abortion in case of fetal malformation has made its way back to the Polish Parliament. The civic bill collected over 400 000 signatures of support. The Parliament will now have 90 days to work on the draft legislative bill proposed by the “Stop Abortion” civic initiative. The future developments are difficult to assess as two years ago the draft bill banning abortion totally was not rejected in the first reading but in the second and with slight difference in voting. The restrictive legislature has many supporters in the conservative wing of the ruling party, the Civic Platform.

The current law allows abortion in three cases only; in case of rape/incest, in case of a threat to the woman’s health and in cases of fetal malformation. According to official numbers from the Ministry of Health there were 669 abortion and none resulting from or any other crime in year 2011. This figure, in a country of over 38 million inhabitants, illustrates how difficult it is to access a legal abortion in practice. The Polish Government constantly ignores the harmful effects of current legislation.

According to results of a study conducted by a Polish public opinion research institute, at least one-quarter, possibly up to one-third of women in Poland, have had an abortion at least once. This adds up to 4,1 million to 5,8 million women who undergo illegal abortions or travel abroad.

Source (Polish only): Wyborcza.pl