Anna Maria Żukowska from The Left was the first to address the Sejm, as she argued for changes to Polish criminal law regarding abortion.
"Why do women terminate their pregnancies? Because they want to, because it's their decision, it concerns their bodies. The foetus cannot be transferred to another body."
Żukowska claimed that it is women who should decide about pregnancies because it is only they who bear the consequences:
"In each case the pregnancy burdens the woman's body. It is her organs that operate to sustain the foetus. It is the woman who experiences diverse emotional states related to the pregnancy."
On the other side of the issue and the other side of the political spectrum, but equally emotional, was Karina Bosak from the right-wing Konfederacja. Her arguments attempted to show that the left's position was really anti-feminist:
"Feminism serves men's interests well - supporting abortion is an excellent solution for them. But the slogan "my body, my choice" does not only hide the scientific truth that the child begins their life and development on conception. The slogan hides a more treacherous message: "Your body, your problem”. That's the real message for a woman who has landed up with an unexpected pregnancy, or who finds out that her child may be sick."
Monika Wielichowska from the Civic Coalition (the largest group in the ruling coalition) sought a more moderate position, arguing in a similar spirit to the famous Roe v Wade ruling in the USA. She proposed a bill for "Conscious Parenting" which would avoid "imposing anyone's worldview" on all and which "respects the dignity and freedom of women" without getting into the rightness or wrongness of each decision.
Sources: PAP, Rzeczpospolita
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