Tusk says he doesn’t have the votes in parliament to liberalize Poland’s strict abortion law

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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has acknowledged that he does not have the backing in parliament to change the country’s abortion law, which is among the most restrictive in all of Europe.

Tusk, a centrist, returned to power decade last December at the head of a coalition that spans a broad ideological divide, with lawmakers on the left who want to legalize abortion and conservatives strongly opposed. Changing the law to allow abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy was one of his campaign promises.

“There will be no majority in this parliament for legal abortion, in the full sense of the word, until the next elections. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Tusk said during an event on Friday where he was asked about the matter.

Lawmakers to the parliament were elected last October for a term of four years.

Tusk said his government is instead working on establishing new procedures in the prosecutor’s office and in Polish hospitals in order to ease some of the de facto restrictions. “This is already underway and it will be very noticeable,” Tusk said.

Poland is a majority Roman Catholic country where the church maintains a strong position. But the central European nation of 38 million people is also undergoing rapid secularization, going hand-in-hand with growing wealth. Abortion is viewed as a fundamental issue for many voters, and a source of deep social and political divisions.

Under the current law, abortion is only allowed in the cases of rape or incest or if the woman’s life or health is at risk. A new restriction took effect under the previous conservative government removing a previous right to abortion in the case of fetal deformities. That sparked massive street protests.

Women often cannot obtain abortions even in cases that are allowed under the law. There have been reported cases of pregnant women who died after medical emergencies because hospitals prioritized saving the fetus. Some doctors, particularly in conservative areas, refuse to perform abortions altogether, citing their conscience.

In cases of rape or incest, a woman must report the crime to the prosecutor’s office to obtain the permission from a court for the procedure. In practice women never use this route because of the stigma attached and because the legal procedure can take a long time, abortion rights activists say.

Many women, though, do have abortions, primarily using abortion pills sent from abroad or by traveling to another country.

The law does not criminalize a woman who has an abortion but it is a crime to assist a woman having an abortion. In one prominent case, an activist was convicted for giving a woman abortion pills.

“I can only promise that within the framework of the existing law we will do everything to make women suffer less, to make abortion as safe as possible and accessible when a woman has to make such a decision. So that people who get involved in helping a woman are not prosecuted,” Tusk said.