On Tuesday, 20 October, the Sejm passed an amendment to the Penal Code that partially decriminalises abortion carried out with a woman’s consent, and assisting in it. 217 deputies voted in favour, 213 against, and three abstained. Deputies also passed a second bill restoring the grounds of severe fetal defect.
Both bills will now go to the Senate and then to the president. Earlier, deputies rejected a motion from the Confederation and the Direct Democracy (Demokracja Bezpośrednia) club to reject the Penal Code amendment bill at second reading. We reported on the course of Tuesday’s debate in our article on the second reading of the abortion bills.
How the parliamentary clubs voted
According to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), all voting deputies of the Civic Coalition (KO, 152), the Left (21), the Centre (14) and the Together club (4) supported the Penal Code amendment. Ten PSL-TD deputies, 12 Poland 2050 deputies and four non-affiliated deputies also voted in favour: Marcin Józefaciuk, Paulina Matysiak, Joanna Mucha and Tomasz Zimoch.
Voting against were all voting members of the Law and Justice (PiS, 137), Rozwój Plus (38), the Confederation (15), Democracy (4) and the Confederation Crown of Poland (3) clubs, as well as non-affiliated deputy Janusz Kowalski. 14 PSL-TD deputies also voted against, including Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Dariusz Klimczak, Marek Biernacki and Marek Sawicki. Henryk Smolarz and Piotr Zgorzelski of PSL-TD abstained. Szymon Hołownia of Poland 2050 voted against, while Adam Gomoła from the same club abstained.
What the amendment changes
The bill was submitted in July 2024 by deputies from the Left and KO. It repeals Article 152 § 1 of the Penal Code, which provided for up to three years in prison for terminating a pregnancy with a woman’s consent in violation of the Family Planning Act. It also repeals § 2, under which the same penalty applied to anyone who assisted in an abortion or incited one. A new § 4 excludes the liability of a doctor, nurse or midwife when the termination results from a medical procedure needed to avert a threat to the woman’s life or health, or when tests indicate a high probability of severe and irreversible fetal defects or an incurable disease threatening the fetus’s life.
The second bill: fetal defect
The second bill, which permits abortion in cases of severe fetal defect, was passed by 233 deputies; 203 voted against and one abstained (figures according to PAP and Interia). The Constitutional Tribunal ruled this ground unconstitutional in a 2020 judgment. The judgment was published in January 2021, triggering a wave of protests. According to Interia, all deputies present from KO, the Left, the Centre, Poland 2050 and Together voted in favour, while deputies from PiS, Rozwój Plus, the Confederation and the Confederation Crown of Poland voted against.
What next and what it means
Before the laws can take effect, they must pass through the Senate and be signed by President Karol Nawrocki, who may veto them. As Onet reports, Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the Chancellery of the President, told Polsat News that during the campaign the president declared support for protecting life from conception to natural death. This was an answer to a question about the fate of the bills, but not a formal announcement of a veto. As of publication, the Chancellery of the President had not announced an official decision.
Until then, the existing rules remain in force. Abortion is legal in two cases: when the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life or health (with no time limit), or when it results from a prohibited act (up to the 12th week). Penalties for assisting in an abortion outside these cases still carry up to three years in prison. For opponents of the changes, the result means the fate of the bills will be decided by a veto, because overriding it requires 3/5 of the votes in the Sejm, and Tuesday’s majority was four votes. In July 2024, similar provisions failed to win a majority.
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