Yet neither bill would allow abortion on demand up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, as Tusk’s Civic Coalition promised during the 2023 election campaign. The multi-party coalition includes many conservatives and cannot reach agreement on such far-reaching liberalization.
Both bills now move from the lower house, or Sejm, to the Senate, where they appear poised to pass, but their final fate remains unclear. President Karol Nawrocki, an ally of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, said before his election in 2025 that he would not sign a law relaxing rules on abortion.
“By refusing to sign the legislation (on abortion), the president is hurting people,” Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty said on Tuesday before the votes. “If he wants to hurt women, he will hurt them. I think women will see it and hear it.”
Tusk’s coalition government will likely continue to increase pressure on the president and PiS if Nawrocki blocks liberalization, as he has announced.
To override a presidential veto, you need a three-fifths majority in the Sejm, which the Tusk-led coalition does not have. The proposals adopted on Tuesday were examined in parliamentary committee for two years before surfacing, spurred by the campaign which is intensifying 12 months before the next general election, scheduled for the end of 2027.
Cancel restrictions
At the parliamentary level, the removal of criminal sanctions for helping women to have an abortion was adopted with 217 votes in favor, 213 against and three abstentions. The other bill obtained a slightly clearer majority of 233 votes in favor, 203 votes against and only one abstention.
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