On Tuesday, 20 October, the Sejm began the second reading of two bills liberalising Poland’s abortion law (prints 3202 and 3203). The vote has been scheduled for the evening.
The reports of the Extraordinary Committee on the bills concerning the right to terminate pregnancy, dated 8 October, are listed in the register of Sejm prints under numbers 3202 (amendment of the Criminal Code) and 3203 (amendment of the act on family planning, protection of the human foetus and conditions for permitted termination of pregnancy). As PAP reports, cited by “Nasz Dziennik”, MPs are hearing statements from parliamentary clubs and circles during the second reading, with the debate scheduled for 2:15 p.m. The committee chair, Dorota Łoboda (KO), said the vote will take place on Tuesday evening.
What the bills provide
The first bill, submitted in July 2024 by MPs from the Left and the Civic Coalition, amends the Criminal Code. It proposes partial decriminalisation of abortion performed with the woman’s consent in violation of the act, and decriminalisation of assisting a woman in carrying out an abortion herself. A similar proposal failed to win a majority in the Sejm in July 2024.
The second bill, filed in February 2024 by the then Third Way, aims to reverse the effects of the 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling and restore the possibility of terminating a pregnancy in cases of severe and irreversible foetal defects or incurable illness threatening the foetus’s life. Currently, abortion is legal under two circumstances: when the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life or health, or when it results from a prohibited act (up to the 12th week).
The road to a vote
The committee backed both bills on 8 October; according to PAP, 15 MPs voted in favour, five against, and none abstained. PiS MPs argued that the solutions are unconstitutional. Committee work resumed after a break of more than two years. According to the portal tvp.info, this followed a conversation between Sejm Marshal Włodzimierz Czarzasty and Prime Minister Donald Tusk; this part of the account is based on unofficial information from media reports. MP Katarzyna Kotula expressed hope that both bills will gain a majority.
The outcome of the vote is not certain. After the July 2024 vote, when the coalition lacked the votes, Prime Minister Tusk acknowledged that there is no majority in this term to soften the rules. At the time of publication, no result of the vote was available.
Figures and context
According to National Health Fund (NFZ) data, hospitals performed 509 terminations in 2023, 793 in 2024, 851 in 2025, and 573 in the first half of 2026. The Constitutional Tribunal ruling, which removed the embryopathological grounds, was published in January 2021 and triggered mass protests. A June IBRiS poll found that 44.7 per cent of respondents supported the Sejm continuing work on liberalisation, while 44.4 per cent were opposed.
What it means
Passage of the bills by the Sejm will not yet change the law. The bills must pass the Senate and be signed by President Karol Nawrocki, who has the right of veto. Until then, the existing rules remain in force, including penalties of up to three years in prison for assisting an abortion outside the cases permitted by law. RMF24 also reports that demonstrations are planned in Polish cities on Thursday, marking the anniversary of the 22 October 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling.
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