Abortion in Poland

Abstract

As of July 1991 abortion is still legal in Poland. Currently the Polish Parliament has taken a break from the debate because the issue is so important that any decision must not be made in past. There is strong pressure from the Catholic Church to eliminate access to abortion. In the fall the Polish people will vote for and elect their first truly democratic Parliament. Abortion does not seem to be playing as important a role as other political issues. In 1956 a law was passed that allowed a woman to have an abortion for medical or social reasons. This law resulted in allowing women in Poland to use abortion as their primary form of contraception. The vast majority of the abortions were performed under the social justification. Then when democracy same to Poland with the help of the Catholic Church an unprecedented debate in the mass media churches and educational institutions was stirred up. The government attempted to stay out of the debate at first. But as people from different side of the debate saw that they had an opportunity to influence things in their favor they began to politicize the issue. Currently there are 4 different drafts of the new Polish abortion law. 3 of them radically condemn abortion while the 4th condemns it as a method of family planning but allows to terminate pregnancies in order to save the life of the mother.