Women took to the streets in more than 20 Polish cities and towns on Thursday, voicing anger over the government's failure to deliver on promises to liberalise the country's strict abortion laws. The protests, coordinated by reproductive rights groups, come just two days after parliament passed two bills aimed at easing some of the most restrictive abortion rules in the European Union.
Protesters accuse Prime Minister Donald Tusk's liberal coalition of offering only symbolic measures, knowing full well that President Andrzej Duda, a conservative ally of the previous government, is almost certain to veto both pieces of legislation. The bills, which passed the Sejm on Tuesday, are now headed to the presidential palace, where their fate looks sealed.
Zofia Marcinek of the Warsaw-based Abortion Dream Team described the parliamentary votes as a series of “token gestures” rather than a genuine attempt at reform. “The government knows these bills will not survive the presidential veto,” she told reporters. “They are trying to win back women's support ahead of next year's parliamentary election by appearing to act.”
What the two bills propose
The first bill, tabled by Tusk's Civic Coalition (KO) and the Left, would partially decriminalise abortion and remove criminal penalties for assisting someone in obtaining one. Currently, such assistance can carry a prison sentence of up to three years. The second bill, introduced by the more conservative coalition partners Poland 2050 and the Polish People's Party (PSL), would overturn the effects of a 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling that banned abortion in cases of severe foetal abnormalities.
The first bill passed with 217 votes in favour, 213 against and three abstentions. The second was approved by 233 votes to 203, with one abstention. Despite the narrow margins, the votes signal a shift in the Polish parliament, where the issue has been deeply polarising since the early 1990s.
Since 1993, Poland has allowed abortion only in cases of severe foetal abnormalities, risks to the mother's health or life, or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. The 2020 court ruling, which removed the foetal abnormality exception, left Polish women with one of the most restrictive legal frameworks in Europe, prompting mass protests across the country at the time.
Thursday's demonstrations, which took place in Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Poznań, and many smaller towns, were organised under the slogan “We are not tokens.” Protesters carried banners reading “My body, my choice” and “No more games.” In Warsaw, crowds gathered outside the Sejm before marching towards the presidential palace.
Alongside full decriminalisation, protesters are demanding access to legal abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy, unrestricted access to the “morning-after” pill, and action by local authorities to disperse illegal protests held outside hospitals in Warsaw and Gdańsk and the AboTak clinic in Warsaw. These clinic blockades, often organised by anti-abortion activists, have become a recurring feature of the Polish abortion debate.
The government's handling of the issue has drawn criticism not only from activists but also from some within the ruling coalition. While Tusk has publicly supported liberalising abortion laws, his government has been cautious, wary of alienating more conservative voters. The parliamentary arithmetic, with a narrow majority and a hostile president, makes any substantive reform difficult.
“This is a government that promised change but delivers only gestures,” said Marcinek. “Women are tired of being used as a political football.” The protests come at a time when similar debates are unfolding elsewhere in Europe, from Lisbon's housing protests to France's security concerns, but the Polish situation remains uniquely constrained by the presidential veto.
Even if the bills were to become law, Poland would still have some of the strictest abortion rules in the EU, as analysts have pointed out. The decriminalisation bill, for instance, would not legalise abortion on demand; it would merely reduce penalties for those who help women access illegal procedures. The second bill would restore the pre-2020 status quo, but that still excludes many cases that are permitted in other European countries.
For now, the protesters' demands remain unmet. The government has promised to continue working on the issue, but with a presidential election due in 2025 and parliamentary elections the following year, the political calculus is delicate. As one protester in Warsaw put it, “We will keep coming back until they take us seriously.”
