Poland delays abortion ban as nationwide protests continue
Posted by Nicole Moran on November 5, 2020 at 7:59 am
Poland’s rightwing government has delayed implementation of a controversial court ruling that would outlaw almost all abortion after it prompted the largest protests since the fall of communism.
“There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation, which is difficult and stirs high emotions,” Michał Dworczyk, the head of the prime minister’s office, told Polish media on Tuesday.
The decision by the country’s constitutional tribunal promised to further tighten Poland’s abortion laws, which were already some of the strictest in Europe. The tribunal ruled that terminations should be illegal even in cases where a foetus is diagnosed with a serious and irreversible birth defect. This kind of abortion accounts for almost all of the small number of abortions performed legally in the country.
The decision has still not been published, despite a Monday deadline, and as such has not entered into force. “It’s clearly a political decision,” said Anna Wójcik, a researcher at the law studies institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences. “Judgments are meant to be published with no delay. It’s a legal trick to withhold publishing.”
The tribunal’s decision, which was in response to a challenge from a group of rightwing MPs, has focused anger on the Law and Justice (PiS) party. PiS has ruled Poland since 2015 and has been accused of eroding democratic norms during its time in power, including by packing the constitutional tribunal with its supporters.
The abortion ruling has caused anger beyond the usual groups of PiS opponents, and the scale of the protests appears to have taken the government by surprise. The more extreme wing of the party supports the constitutional ruling, but surveys show that much of the party’s voter base does not support tighter abortion restrictions, so the PiS hierarchy finds itself in a difficult spot.
To read the Guardian’s full article, please see here
