The resolution, which is not legally binding, was backed by 471 MEPs, with 128 against and 57 abstaining.
The European Parliament resolution voices “deep concern over the extremely vague, broad and disproportionate provisions in the draft law [in Poland], which de facto seeks to criminalise the dissemination of sexuality education to minors”.
MEPs called on the Polish parliament not to back the bill and to “ensure that young people have access to comprehensive sexuality education.”
But Anna Zalewska, a former education minister and an MEP for Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice party, said: "Sex education exists at every level in Polish schools.”
She added that parents decide whether their children should take part in such classes.
Conservative MEP Beata Mazurek said: "Today's resolution is one big scandal.”
Former Polish Prime Minister and left-wing MEP Leszek Miller pointed out that the bill referred to by the European Parliament resolution was an initiative put forward by citizens, not the government in Warsaw.
(pk/gs)
Source: PAP/europarl.europa.eu