Thousands protest across Poland for access to free and legal abortions
Thousands of people demonstrated in more than 20 Polish towns and cities on the sixth anniversary of the country's near-total abortion ban, calling for access to free and legal abortion services.
The demonstrations occurred days after parliament passed two bills that would ease abortion restrictions in the mostly Catholic country. However, the measures are likely to be vetoed by Poland's conservative President Karol Nawrocki, leaving abortion legal only in cases of rape, incest, or when the pregnancy threatens the mother's life or health.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government promised to liberalize abortion laws ahead of its 2023 election victory, but divisions within the coalition have slowed progress. In Warsaw, about 1,000 protesters demonstrated in front of parliament despite rain, marking six years since Poland's highest court imposed the near-total ban.
Token gestures
Zofia Marcinek of the Abortion Dream Team, a reproductive rights activist group in Warsaw, criticized the timing of the bills. Passing the draft laws now, a year before the next parliamentary election, is a case of 'token gestures' rather than a genuine effort to reform abortion law, she said.
The liberal government knew the draft laws stand no chance of withstanding Nawrocki's veto, and has merely tried to create the impression of taking action because it needs women's support to win elections next year.
Limited access
Despite restrictive laws, abortions remain common in Poland, with the majority carried out by women at home using pills obtained from outside the country. Polish hospitals performed 573 abortions in the first half of 2026, compared with 452 in the whole of 2022 before Tusk came to power, according to data from the National Health Fund. Activists say tens of thousands happen yearly outside hospitals.
Campaigners claim the Tusk government has betrayed Polish women, with the prime minister's claims that women's access to abortion has improved actually complicating care for some. 'The government's promises act as a type of disinformation,' Marcinek said. 'Women getting pregnant hear the prime minister say that everything is OK, that there is access to abortion, and then they end up in the hospital and see that is not the case.'
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