Thousands of people have joined abortion protests in Poland, gathering in more than 20 towns and cities to demand free and legal access to abortion services.
The demonstrations were held six years after Poland’s highest court imposed a near-total abortion ban. In Warsaw, about 1,000 people protested outside parliament despite heavy rain.
Abortion is currently legal only when a pregnancy results from rape or incest, or when it threatens the life or health of the woman.
Two bills passed by parliament in the days before the protests would ease the restrictions, but they are expected to be vetoed by Poland’s conservative President Karol Nawrocki.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government pledged to liberalise abortion law before winning the 2023 election. However, divisions within the governing coalition have slowed progress.
Zofia Marcinek, of the reproductive rights group Abortion Dream Team, said the legislation amounted to “token gestures” rather than a genuine attempt at reform.
She accused the government of knowing the bills would not survive a presidential veto and of trying to appear active on the issue ahead of next year’s parliamentary election, when it will need women’s support.
“Over the last six years, nothing has really changed,” said 36-year-old Emilia Niemiec, who manages the AboTak abortion centre in Warsaw.
The centre provides women with information and resources, including abortion pills, as well as a place to seek support or carry out a medication abortion.
Poland’s abortion restrictions
Poland has had restrictive abortion laws since 1993. The rules were tightened further in 2020 under the national-conservative Law and Justice government, when abortions involving foetuses with congenital defects were banned.
Despite the restrictions, abortions remain common, with most carried out at home using pills obtained from outside Poland. Women who have abortions, including through medication, do not face criminal responsibility, although people who assist them, such as doctors and family members, can potentially be prosecuted.
Polish hospitals carried out 573 abortions during the first half of 2026, compared with 452 during the whole of 2022, before Mr Tusk came to power, according to National Health Fund figures. Activists say tens of thousands more abortions take place outside hospitals each year.
Campaigners have accused the Tusk government of betraying Polish women. They also dispute the prime minister’s claims that access to abortion has improved during his administration.
“The government’s promises act as a type of disinformation,” Ms 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.”
She said some women consequently sought help from activists “when it’s very late and very complicated and expensive to help them”.
