Poland was one of the most liberal post communist states for fucks sake. They joined the EU.
wrong
Abortion in Poland is illegal except in cases where the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act or when the
woman's life or
health is in danger.
[1] The last change in the Act on Pregnancy Planning of the Republic of Poland took place on 27 January 2021, when publication of the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal in the
Dziennik Ustaw RP took place.
[2]
Poland is one of the only few countries in the world where abortion became largely outlawed since the 1990s after decades of permissive liberalized legislation during the
communist–era
Polish People's Republic.
[3] In 2010, about 10 to 15% of abortions on Polish pregnant women had to be carried out outside Poland due to the strict restraints within their own country.
[4] Poland's abortion law is also one of the most restrictive in the
European Union (EU) and Europe in general, along with a group of other traditionally
Roman Catholic countries of the region (e.g.
Malta,
Liechtenstein, the
Vatican,
Monaco and
Andorra).
[5]
As of 27 January 2021, abortion is legal only in cases:
[6]
- when the woman's life or health is endangered by the continuation of pregnancy.
- when the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act.
Unlike in other countries where abortion is banned, women in Poland are not subject to a penalty for illegal termination of pregnancy; the medical personnel ordering and carrying out the abortion are subject to criminal penalties including imprisonment. Consent of a physician is required for circumstance (1) above, while abortions in view of circumstance (2) above must be certified by a prosecutor. Parental consent is always required if the woman seeking abortion is a
minor.
[7]
prior law
After the end of Communist rule in 1989, abortion legislation in Poland became controversial, as conservative members of the anti-communist
Solidarity, supported by the
Roman Catholic Church, including highly influential
Pope John Paul II, pushed for a complete ban on abortion. Starting from 1990, increasingly stringent requirements were put into place for women trying to obtain an abortion. The Ordinance of April 1990 required consent from three medically qualified specialists and a psychologist, plus the addition of a fee. In May 1992, a new code of ethics approved by the national doctors' guild practically banned abortions in most public facilities. Finally, in 1993, the law was further tightened, removing entirely "difficult living conditions" as a ground for abortions. As such, abortions could be legally obtained only in cases of serious threat to the life or health of the pregnant woman, as attested by two physicians, cases of rape or incest confirmed by a prosecutor, and cases in which prenatal tests, confirmed by two physicians, demonstrated that the fetus was seriously and irreversibly damaged.
[12][13][14] In 1996, the law was amended to allow abortion on social grounds.
[15] However, this law was struck down in 1997 by the Constitutional Court.
[16]
the so called 2020 ban was actually just banning arbortion of fetuses with deformities as if the life of polacks wasnt misarable enough