Demonstrations took place across Poland today, demanding the liberalization of abortion rights. The action is timed to the sixth anniversary of the near-total ban on abortion introduced by the Constitutional Tribunal.
In Warsaw, approximately a thousand people gathered in front of the Polish parliament in the rain. Mila Niemek, one of the heads of an abortion support center, stated: 'Nothing has changed in six years.'
Similar rallies were held in more than twenty other cities in the country, according to television stations.
These protests occurred shortly after parliament approved two bills aimed at easing the legislation on abortion—one of the most restrictive in Europe. However, it is expected that the nationalist President, Karol Nawrocki, will veto this reform.
Sejm deputies (the lower house of the Polish parliament) adopted these documents with the support of Donald Tusk's centrist government. The bill partially decriminalizes assistance in voluntary termination of pregnancy and restores access to the procedure in cases of severe fetal anomalies.
Women's rights organizations deemed the changes introduced insufficient. Kinga Jelińska, director of the Women Help Women foundation and co-founder of the Abortion Dream Team group, commented: 'These are just crumbs.'
Currently, in Poland, a country with a traditionally Catholic inclination, abortion is only permitted if the pregnancy results from a crime such as rape or incest, or if the mother's life or health is threatened.
Tusk had previously promised to liberalize the legislation before winning the 2023 elections, but disagreements within his coalition government have slowed this process.
Ralliers on social media called for: 'We demand decriminalization and access to abortion through the state healthcare system.'
In 2020, the Constitutional Tribunal, which was under the control of nationalists who were then in power, made abortion illegal in cases of severe fetal anomalies. Before this ruling, 98% of legal abortions in Poland were performed for this reason.
The new restrictions triggered a wave of protests across the country, becoming the largest mass demonstrations in Poland since the Solidarity anti-communist movement in 1989.
According to data from the National Health Fund of Poland (NFZ), 573 abortions were performed in state hospitals in the first half of 2026, compared to 851 in the previous year.
Any attempt to weaken abortion laws will face a veto from the conservative-nationalist President, who is supported by the Law and Justice (PiS) party—the same party that, while in power, caused and maintained the court's decision in 2020.