Government against tighter abortion laws says spokesman

The Polish government will not support any bill that tightens the current restrictions on abortion, a government spokesman has said.

"The current regulations are a sufficient protective measure," Piotr Mueller said on Thursday, adding that any such legislation would probably not receive parliamentary approval.

Mueller was reacting to the tabling of a new anti-abortion bill prepared by a foundation led by Kaja Godek, a pro-life activist.

The foundation wants to make it illegal to provide any information about the possibility of pregnancy termination, both in Poland and abroad.

"First of all, we have to say that this is not a draft authored by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party but that this is a citizens' initiative," Mueller said.

At the moment all abortion in Poland is illegal except when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or when it threatens the health or life of the mother, following a ruling by the country's Constitutional Tribunal (TK) in October 2020, which outlawed pregnancy terminations for foetal abnormalities.

Last June, the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, voted down a citizens' draft law on the safe termination of pregnancy.

The proposed legislation, signed by over 200,000 people, proposed the terminations could be offered free of charge until the 12th week of pregnancy, without asking women for a reason, and beyond the 12th week in case of foetal defects or the pregnancy being the result of a crime, such as rape.