Lawmakers voted 16 to 5 to approve a Civic Coalition and Left proposal repealing penal provisions that carry up to three years in prison for assisting or conducting abortions.
A separate Third Way proposal passed with 20 votes in favor and 5 against, aiming to overturn the October 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling on embryopathologic indications.
Committee chair Dorota Łoboda convened the body for the first time in over two years after Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Sejm Marshal Włodzimierz Czarzasty reached an agreement.
Deputy Katarzyna Kotula announced that both bills will head to the Sejm floor during the parliamentary sitting scheduled for 20 to 23 October.
The Sejm extraordinary committee tasked with reviewing abortion legislation convened at 9:00 on 8 October 2026 to deliberate on two proposals. The first bill, submitted jointly in July 2024 by deputies from the Civic Coalition and the Left, partially decriminalizes termination of pregnancy carried out with the woman's consent outside statutory rules. It repeals Article 152, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Penal Code, removing prison terms of up to three years for performing such abortions and for aiding or encouraging self-managed procedures. The text also shields medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, and midwives, from prosecution when terminating a pregnancy to avert risks to maternal life or health, or following prenatal findings. The committee approved this measure with 16 votes in favor, five against, and no abstentions.
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The second proposal, submitted in February 2024 by the Third Way coalition, seeks to reverse the October 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling that eliminated fetal impairment as grounds for legal abortion. The draft reinstates lawful terminations when prenatal exams show severe and irreversible fetal impairment or an incurable life-threatening illness. Committee members endorsed the Third Way measure by a vote of 20 to five.
Discussions grew tense immediately after proceedings opened, with Law and Justice deputies attempting to stall the vote. Lawmaker Agata Wojtyszek submitted a motion to close the meeting before deliberations began, clashing directly with Civic Coalition deputy Monika Rosa, who urged members to proceed with the bills. Wojtyszek questioned the urgency of the proceedings during the opening exchanges.
“Where are you rushing, dear ladies? To killing defenseless, unborn children?”
Fellow Law and Justice deputy Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko joined the objections, arguing that the changes sought to justify actions by doctors performing terminations. Left deputy Joanna Wicha rejected the opposition's stance, urging lawmakers not to impose restrictions on others. An opposition amendment seeking to delete the clause setting the legislation's effective date was dismissed by Civic Coalition deputy Katarzyna Piekarska as contrary to legislative norms. Roman Fritz of the Confederation of the Polish Crown criticized the committee for excluding public organizations and argued that the scheduling coincided with debates on the national budget.
The extraordinary committee had not convened for over two years before the 8 October session. An earlier meeting scheduled for 14 September was called off shortly before it was set to begin, officially due to the absence of a formal stance from the Ministry of Health. Committee chair Dorota Łoboda requested the new session after top coalition leaders, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Sejm Marshal Włodzimierz Czarzasty, reached an agreement on moving the legislation forward, as Łoboda confirmed following the vote.
“The leaders came to an agreement.”
Following the votes, Left politician Katarzyna Kotula announced that the Sejm will take up both bills during its plenary sitting scheduled for 20 to 23 October. The Sejm previously rejected a decriminalization bill in July 2024, after which Tusk stated that the governing majority lacked the numbers for broader liberalization. Polish law currently permits abortion in only two situations: when a pregnancy threatens the life or health of the mother, or when it results from an unlawful act, with the latter permitted up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
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A special Sejm committee backed legislation removing criminal penalties for aiding abortions and reinstating terminations in cases of fetal defects, sending both bills to the plenary floor for debate between 20 and 23 October.
AI text based on reports by TVN24, FAKT24.pl, www.gazetaprawna.pl and other publishers. Changed .