The debate on reproductive rights in Poland has become a political issue.
Many Polish experts are convinced that the turning point in the eight-year rule of the right-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party was not the parliamentary elections it lost last October.
In fact, it was the "black protests" of late 2020 and early 2021 that dealt the biggest blow to its position. At that time, the Polish Constitutional Court issued a decision that effectively banned abortion in the country.
In response to this decision, thousands of people protested for several months, shaking cities and towns in Poland and even going beyond its borders - activists in dozens of countries around the world came out to demonstrate in solidarity with Polish women.
That is why in the parliamentary elections last October the issue of reproductive rights of Poles, although not a dominant theme of the campaign, was invisibly present in the pre-election discussion.
The main unifying idea of the coalition of opponents of Law and Justice was the return of "normality" to Poland, and part of this normality was undoubtedly the repeal of repressive abortion legislation.
A few months after the victory, the representatives of the new government registered several bills on this topic in the Sejm. All three parties in the coalition have slightly different visions of legalizing or simplifying the scandalous abortion law.
However, opponents of immediate review of the abortion bills have arguments that are hard to argue with.
They argue that there is no point in passing them right now, because any changes will almost certainly be vetoed by President Andrzej Duda, who is known for his conservative outlook. And the coalition does not even theoretically have the votes to override a presidential veto.
The Catholic Church, which is extremely strong in Poland, also opposes any liberalization of abortion legislation. The rhetoric of its representatives against the background of the current political discussions on this topic has become much more acute.
