Poland’s centrist government suffers defeat in vote on liberalizing abortion law

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his centrist coalition government suffered a bitter defeat Friday in parliament, where a slim majority rejected legislation that would have eased the strict anti-abortion law.

The vote was 218-215 with two abstentions to reject the liberalization draft.

Tusk and his liberal Civic Coalition parliamentary caucus supported the draft that would have lifted the current punishment for persons aiding women in abortion. They face up to three years in prison.

The liberalization was a key element in Tusk’s program of reversing various policies of the previous right-wing government that have drawn massive protests.

However, some lawmakers of the wider ruling coalition — notably most of the agrarian Polish People’s Party, but also some others — voted against the change, exposing cracks in the governing bloc. Three votes were lacking from Tusk’s own party and the ired premier has vowed consequences.

Out of 460 seats in the lower house, or Sejm, Tusk’s Civic Coalition caucus has 157 seats, coalition members Third Road and the agrarian party have another 63 votes, while allied Left party contributes another 23 votes, to jointly hold a majority.

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Left wing lawmakers, who promoted the draft, vowed to repeatedly resubmit until it is adopted.

However, conservative President Andrzej Duda, who was allied with the previous right-wing government of Law and Justice party, said this week he will not sign the liberalization because, to him, abortion means killing people.

Abortion was one of most dividing topics under Law and Justice that governed from 2015-23, especially after a special court that it took control of banned abortions of fetuses with serious genetic issues. That ruling in 2020 was met with nationwide street protests. It had a chilling effect on doctors - in addition to the penalty for aiding abortion - and cases were reported of women having died because doctors were hesitant to terminate troubled pregnancies.

Tusk’s government, which took office in December, has vowed to ease the situation with amendments to the current law.

Abortion is allowed in Poland until the 12th week of pregnancy if it threatens the woman’s health or life, or when pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Hours after the vote Friday, Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia said the parliament website fell victim to hacking and was inaccessible around the time of the vote. It was not immediately clear whether that had any influence on the vote.