Thousands march across Poland for legal abortion as parliament bills face Nawrocki veto

Thousands of people demonstrated in more than 20 towns and cities across Poland on Thursday, demanding access to free and legal abortion services on the sixth anniversary of a near-total abortion ban imposed by the country's highest court.

The protests came days after parliament passed two bills that would ease abortion restrictions — measures that conservative President Karol Nawrocki is expected to veto.

Currently, abortion is legal in Poland only when a pregnancy results from a criminal act such as rape or incest, or when it threatens the life or health of the mother. The ban on abortions of foetuses with congenital defects was imposed in 2020 under the then-governing Law and Justice party.

In Warsaw, around 1,000 protesters gathered in front of parliament despite rain. Zofia Marcinek of the Abortion Dream Team, a reproductive rights activist group, called the bills "token gestures," arguing the coalition government knew they stood no chance of surviving a presidential veto and had acted to secure women's votes ahead of next year's parliamentary election.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government had promised to liberalise abortion laws before its 2023 election victory, but divisions within the coalition slowed progress.

Polish hospitals performed 573 abortions in the first half of 2024, compared with 452 in the whole of 2022, according to data from the National Health Fund. Activists say tens of thousands of abortions take place yearly outside hospitals, with most carried out at home using pills obtained from abroad.