Polish Sejm committee backs partial decriminalization of abortion — RMF24

The Extraordinary Committee of Poland’s Sejm has supported a parliamentary bill amending the Criminal Code that provides for the partial decriminalization of terminating a pregnancy with the woman’s consent and assisting in self-managed abortion. Sixteen MPs voted in favor of a positive opinion on the document, five voted against, and there were no abstentions.

Vote in the committee

As RMF24 reports, before the vote, representatives of the Law and Justice party proposed postponing the committee meeting, but the proposal did not receive a majority of votes.

The committee first considered a joint bill by MPs from The Left and the Civic Coalition, submitted in July 2024. It concerns the partial decriminalization of terminating a pregnancy with the woman’s consent in violation of the provisions of the law on family planning, protection of the human fetus and conditions for the permissibility of pregnancy termination, as well as assistance in self-managed abortion.

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What the bill provides for

The document proposes repealing Paragraph 1 of Article 152 of the Criminal Code, which provides for up to three years’ imprisonment for terminating a pregnancy with the woman’s consent in violation of rules established by law. It also proposes repealing Paragraph 2 of this article, which establishes the same penalty for assisting a pregnant woman in terminating a pregnancy or inducing her to do so.

On the same day, the committee also considered another bill that Third Way referred for parliamentary consideration in February 2024. It provides for restoring the possibility of terminating a pregnancy in cases of a severe fetal defect. It was this ground that Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal found unconstitutional in 2020.