Poland’s
ruling party moves to reject abortion ban bill
The
retreat marks a rare defeat for Law and Justice.
By WOJCIECH KOŚĆ
10/5/16, 8:34 PM CET Updated 10/6/16, 5:40 AM CET
WARSAW — Days
after enormous streets protests against proposed legislation banning
almost all abortions, Poland’s Law and Justice party backed down,
rejecting the bill in committee on Wednesday.
The U-turn came at a
tumultuous and hastily convened meeting of the Polish parliament’s
justice and human rights committee, which saw Law and Justice MPs
obediently voting against a bill they had supported just a week
earlier. The measure still has to be rejected by the full parliament
in a vote scheduled for Thursday.
The proposed law
would have banned all abortions unless a mother’s life was at risk,
and could have imposed prison sentences on doctors and on women
seeking abortions.
Last week’s
decision to send the abortion ban to committee, as well as a second
vote rejecting an effort to liberalize Poland’s already strict
abortion law, prompted a wave of outrage. Thousands of women stayed
home from work on Monday, and as many as 100,000 people, most dressed
in black, staged nationwide protests.
The bill was the
result of a petition drive by the conservative Ordo Iuris
organization, which gathered 450,000 signatures supporting the bill —
enough for it to be tabled in parliament. The measure is also backed
by many prominent bishops from the powerful Roman Catholic Church.
That created a huge
political problem for Law and Justice (PiS).
The party has an
absolute majority in parliament following last year’s election, and
many of its members and leaders sympathize with the effort to halt
all abortions. However, reopening Poland’s 1993 abortion law —
which only allows the procedure if the pregnancy is the result of a
crime, if the fetus is deformed, or if a mother’s life is in danger
— sparked unprecedented opposition.
The party tried to
dodge the issue. “This isn’t our project,” said Ryszard
Terlecki, the deputy speaker of parliament.
But the bill’s
opponents tied the measure to Law and Justice, holding a protest
Monday outside PiS headquarters in central Warsaw.
The ferocity of the
demonstrations, which weren’t organized by the political
opposition, surprised the government. An opinion poll released
Wednesday by Millward Brown found that 67 percent of Poles were
against the legislation.
The retreat caused
dismay among conservative Catholics who form part of PiS’s core
electorate, and who have strongly backed the party’s “good
change” program of radical reforms.
“If tomorrow PiS
votes against defending life, that will be the end of the good
change,” tweeted Tomasz Terlikowski, an ultra-Catholic columnist.
“You can’t build a moral renewal on the bodies of children.”
The issue has also
added to Poland’s problems in Brussels. The European Parliament
held a debate Wednesday evening on women’s rights in Poland.
Terry Reintke, a
German member of the Greens, said her group supported the Polish
demonstrations. “I thank them for their struggle, their energy and
the hope they have put in this. Their struggle is our struggle.”
Some MEPs however
said they felt uncomfortable with what they saw as interference in a
country’s internal affairs.“It will cause us a lot of problems,
and a lot of work,” said Alain Lamassoure from the European
People’s Party.
With reporting by
Maïa de La Baume.
Authors:
Wojciech Kość
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário