Four bills presented by Poland's pro-EU government coalition to liberalize the law on abortion have overcome a first obstacle in parliament. The bills, approved today, will now be discussed by a special parliamentary commission and then subjected to a second vote by deputies.
Currently, Polish women can terminate pregnancies only in cases of rape or danger to the mother's life. Even if parliament approves the reforms, President Andrzej Duda, a conservative Catholic and ally of the nationalist opposition Pis party, is unlikely to enact them. The governing alliance does not have the three-fifths majority needed to overturn a presidential veto and, in the event of a stalemate, will therefore have to wait for next year's presidential election in the hope of imposing a liberal candidate. Amnesty International Poland praises the first moves by the Warsaw Parliament in favor of the liberalization of abortion. We read it on the Guardian's online site. Miko Czerwiński, head of campaigns at Amnesty International Poland, said that with today's vote the Polish parliament has taken a significant step towards ending cruel and draconian restrictions.