Polish government drops proposed total abortion ban
The Polish government said today that the proposed total abortion plan in the country will not be implemented.
Protests by women had “caused us to think and taught us humility”, the Guardian quoted Jaroslaw Gowin, minister of science and higher education, as saying on Wednesday.
The Law and Justice party-led government has been under pressure not to move ahead with the plan of implementing a complete ban on abortion.
Currently, Poland outlaws abortions, with exceptions of rape, incest, badly damaged foetuses or if the mother’s life is at risk.
Women seeking abortions usually go to Germany or other neighbouring countries.
Senate speaker Stanislaw Karczewski said that Poland’s upper house of parliament would not initiate work on a bill that would further restrict Poland’s abortion law.
In a similar case, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma in United States on Tuesday struck down a law imposing restrictions on abortion providers. The law sets criminal penalties for providers who violate abortion-related rules. The bill also puts down stricter inspection of abortion clinics.
There is a section on fetal tissue which mandates providers to save the tissues of foetuses of minor mothers. This is to capture child rapists.
The state said that the law is to address women's reproductive health.
(WION with inputs from agencies)