Poland's parliament overwhelmingly rejected plans for a
near-total ban on abortion on Thursday after mass protests by tens of thousands
of women, marking an embarrassing setback for the conservative government and
the powerful Catholic Church.
The ruling Law and Justice party (PIS) had originally
backed the draft proposals drawn up by an independent anti-abortion campaign
group but was badly shaken by Monday's protest rallies across Poland attended
by up to 100,000 women dressed in black.
Poland already has one of Europe's most restrictive
abortion laws but the new proposals would have limited it only to cases where
the mother's life was in direct danger - a step too far even for many women who
helped vote PiS into power a year ago.
Under the rejected plan, women and doctors would have
faced up to five years in jail for performing an abortion.
"PiS continues to back the protection of
life," party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a devout Catholic, told
parliament. "And it will continue to take action in this respect but it
will be considered action."
In the vote 352 lawmakers rejected the proposals against
58 in favour, but liberal opposition deputies warned of possible further
attempts to tighten the law by the PiS government, which has a big parliamentary
majority.
"We have to remain vigilant because we don't know
what the future holds for abortion rules in Poland. We can't be sure that PiS
won't come up with a new proposal," said Joanna Schmidt, a lawmaker with
the new liberal Modern party.
Under current rules, enshrined in a 1993 law that ended
the liberal approach of communist times, abortion is allowed in cases of rape,
incest, danger to the mother's health or when prenatal tests show serious,
irreversible damage to the foetus.
But activists say women are sometimes denied an abortion
in such cases when a doctor invokes moral or religious objections.
Poland remains one of Europe's most staunchly Catholic
nations, although the clergy has seen its influence steadily eroded by more
than two decades of democratisation and market reforms since the 1989 fall of
communism.
Ahead of Thursday's vote, the Bishops' Conference said
in a statement: "We support all law proposals that call for the full
protection of life from conception to natural death. But we do not support
rules that would punish women who have an abortion."
PIS PRAGMATISM
Explaining her party's U-turn, Prime Minister Beata
Szydlo said the government would introduce fresh proposals by the end of the
year but hinted that any new restrictions would be modest, if any.
She also announced more money to help families with
disabled children.
Also on Thursday deputies withdrew draft legislation
that would have severely restricted access to in vitro fertilisation (IVF)
procedures for infertile couples.
PiS has already halted state funding for IVF, which the
Catholic Church views as a sinful procedure, reversing the previous centrist
government's policy.
PiS managed to win last year's election by broadening
its appeal beyond its traditional base - mainly poorer, rural, less educated
voters - to include more women and younger people attracted by its promises to
introduce family benefits and increase other forms of public spending.
The PiS candidate for the presidency, Andrzej Duda, was
also elected head of state last year on a similarly broad platform.
"PiS voters have included conservative people who
previously voted for the centrists or those voting for the leftists who support
the PiS welfare ideas," said Zuzanna, a 35-year-old educator from Warsaw
who voted for Duda.
"This proposal (on abortion) could have led to a
decline in support among those whom they had attracted with welfare programmes,"
she said.
PiS may have already suffered consequences. An opinion
poll by Millward Brown pollster conducted after Monday's protests showed
support for PiS easing to 30 percent from 33 percent in July, though it remains
well ahead of its rivals.
Earlier this year its popularity barely budged when it
tried to reform the Constitutional Court in moves critics - including the
European Union - said undermined democratic standards.
(Reporting by Pawel Sobczak and Marcin Goettig; Writing
by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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