Poland abortion rights protests draw thousands

Thousands of people protested in Warsaw and more than 20 other Polish cities on Thursday to demand abortion rights on the sixth anniversary of a near-total abortion ban imposed by Poland's highest court.

The demonstrations came days after parliament passed two bills that would ease abortion restrictions in the Catholic country. In Warsaw, about 1,000 protesters gathered outside parliament despite rain.

“We demand decriminalisation and access to abortion through the public healthcare system,” organisers including several Polish activist and advocacy groups wrote on Instagram.

Abortion in Poland is currently legal only when a pregnancy results from a criminal act, such as rape or incest, or when it threatens the life or health of the pregnant woman.

One of the bills passed by parliament would partly decriminalise ending a pregnancy and decriminalise assisting an abortion, which is currently punishable by up to three years in prison. The other would reverse the effects of a 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling that barred abortion in cases of severe foetal deformity.

Poland's National Health Fund said 573 abortions took place in public hospitals in the first half of 2026. It said public hospitals carried out 851 abortions last year.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government promised to liberalise abortion laws before its 2023 election victory, but divisions in the governing coalition have slowed progress. President Karol Nawrocki, who was endorsed by Law and Justice, is expected to veto both bills.