In an interview with Polsat News, Kosiniak-Kamysz insisted abortion was not such a priority to voters. “In the latest CBOS [a state pollster] survey, the most important issues the government should address were listed as follows: Polish security and border security ranked first, followed by healthcare security, and then the quality of life and the economy. Abortion ranked last, and civil partnerships came second to last,” he argued.
The rocky road ahead
The big question is: what happens next, particularly given a coalition majority looks difficult to secure? As the decriminalization proposal, which appeared the least divisive, fell through, the chances appear slim that Tusk and the Left party will be able to corral the conservatives to their side for much else.
A special parliamentary commission is still trying to produce a compromise text on a proposal to allow termination up until the 12th week of the pregnancy, a change favored by Tusk’s party and the Left.
But the conservatives from PSL and Polska 2050, who together form a group called the Third Way, want a much more restrictive draft, seeking only to restore what’s known as “the 1993 compromise.” That would allow abortion only when there’s a justifiable belief that the pregnancy constitutes a threat to life or a serious threat to the health of the mother; if the fetus is “irreversibly damaged”; or that an illegal act led to the pregnancy.
That is the sort of compromise that a majority of voters says no longer fits Poland in 2024.
“It’s a beautiful day and I have better things to do but I had to come here,” said Paulina Kryńska, 43, who works in marketing for a real estate company, speaking at Tuesday’s protest in front of parliament.
