Facing protests across the country after a court ruling prohibiting abortion for foetal abnormalities, the Polish president said Friday he would propose a bill permitting abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.
Andrzej Duda said October 30 he would introduce a bill to allow abortion “when prenatal tests or other medical indications show a high probability that the child will be stillborn or have an incurable disease or defect that will lead to the death of the child inevitably and directly, regardless of the therapeutic measures used”, Reuters reported.
Protests across Poland began after the constitutional court ruled on October 22 that a law permitting abortion for foetal abnormalities was unconstitutional. The Polish constitution says that the state “shall ensure the legal protection of the life of every human being”.
Mr Duda initially welcomed the court ruling, telling the Warsaw daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna on October 23 “that abortion for so-called eugenic reasons should not be allowed in Poland. I believed and believe that every child has a right to life.”
The AP reported that Duda had told RMF FM that abortion should be prohibited for non-fatal foetal conditions such as Down syndrome, but permitted for fatal abnormalities: “it cannot be that the law requires this kind of heroism from a woman.”
He said: “I believe that there should be a regulation which, in case of lethal defects, will unequivocally guarantee the rights on the side of the woman.”