In an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Left leader Anna Maria Żukowska has said that abortion will be included in the "separate protocols" of individual coalition members.
Of the three opposition partners, the Left is unsurprisingly the most liberal when it comes to abortion. Donald Tusk (Civic Platform) has also made clear statements about abortion on demand until the 12th week of pregnancy. The Third Way alliance (made up of PSL and Poland 2050), however, is perceived as "liberal-Catholic" on this and other issues, so abortion could potentially divide the "right" and "left" wings of the opposition.
Anna Maria Żukowska, in a further conciliatory note, suggested in the interview that the agriculture-based PSL party is not a "monolith" when it comes to abortion and if parliamentarians were allowed to vote according to their conscience there would be enough votes to liberalise abortion law in Poland.
In the following Tweet, Żukowska praises the situation where political partners discuss their differences openly, contrasting this to what she describes as the "voting machine" to which the current ruling party, she claims, has reduced the Polish Sejm (Lower House):
Polish attitudes to abortion are nuanced and may be summarised by saying that "though abortion is a wrong it is not the government's place to decide women's private matters". This is the paradox of the strongly feminist black march protests and the high level of opposition to abortion evidenced in surveys.
2023 United Surveys research shows that over 50% of Polish people accept abortion in a wide range of extreme situations - when the child will be disabled (excluding Down's Syndrome), where the pregnancy is the result of sex crime or if the mother or baby's life is in danger.
The World Values Survey shows the same contradiction. If we compare Poland and the UK, Poland has a higher % of citizens claiming that abortion is "never justifiable" (Poland's 38.5% to UK's 13%), however, the remainder of the population is spread evenly over successively more liberal positions.
This "spread" of opinions shows Poland stands in contrast to the highly polarised abortion debate in the US. As studies have confirmed, US attitudes to abortion polarised in the 70s and 80s into two incompatible camps, both of whom perceive the other camp as immoral - either failing to recognise women's "rights" or as permitting "murder".
Research figures present Polish opinions as less categorical, particularly when they are framed in terms of being "justifiable". When surveys ask about what the law should be or if "the law should protect unborn children" a higher % come out as conservative.
A recent Polish poll found that 56% of Polish people support abortion on demand until 12 weeks with an overwhelming majority of the opinion that the current law is too strict.
Sources: PAP, World Values Survey, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, JSTOR
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