the right to abortion divides society, from youth to the majority camp

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to legalize the right to abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. President Andrzej Duda is opposed to it. Polish society still seems very reluctant to any liberalization.

If there is one subject that divides Polish society, it is that of abortion. Abortion is only authorized in cases of rape or incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger. Current Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised to legalize the right to abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, after winning the legislative elections last October. But there is still significant reluctance, including among the majority. Youth also seems divided. Franceinfo gave the floor to two young Poles who have opposing opinions on the issue

Romuald displays his convictions from the outset. “I find that abortion is the murder of a human being, and in our Constitution, the defense of life, from conception until natural death, is enshrined,” defends this 22-year-old archeology student, who comes from a practicing Catholic family.

“It’s the question of free choice. Nobody forces anyone to have an abortion, estimates Zosia, 21 years old, lip piercing. She participated in several demonstrations in favor of the legalization of abortion. The Constitution also says that we are a secular country. There are also political parties that are against the freedom to choose and support the death penalty. It’s contradictory.”

France is the first country in the world to have included the right to abortion in its Constitution. A step forward for Zosia, but Romuald takes a dim view of it. “I don’t think it’s a great solution. he decides. Is the civilization of death the civilization we want to have in Europe? Just look at the demographic numbers.” “What about Izabela’s death in 2021?”, Zosia retorts. Izabela is this 30-year-old woman, 22 weeks pregnant and died of septic shock in hospital. Ultrasounds had revealed malformations in the fetus she was carrying. Doctors refused to perform an abortion while the fetus’s heart was still beating.

“The stories of women who die in hospital are the most sensitive because the doctors’ hands are tied.”

Zosia, young Polish girl

at franceinfo

Under Polish law, one of the most restrictive in Europe regarding abortion, anyone who helps a pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy faces three years in prison. Every year, thousands of women leave Poland to have an abortion or order an abortion pill from abroad. They are not for sale in Poland. For abortion, supported by 56% of Poles, to one day be legalized, we will have to wait for the next presidential election, in a year.

The current president, Andrzej Duda, a figure in the conservative Law and Justice party, is fiercely opposed to it. He recently vetoed a bill making the morning-after pill available without a prescription.