Abortion legislation

Legislation timeline

  • 1953: abortion ban with exceptions, the difference is that one of the exceptions was "socioeconomic reasons" which was not verified in any way after around 1958 which resulted in abortion being easily accessible
  • 1993: abortion is made illegal on the specific request of the Polish pope Johannes II (Wojtyla)
  • 1997: the President of the Constitutional Court announces that the regulation of permissibility of abortion on the grounds of difficult living conditions or a challenging personal situation loses its legal force
  • 2020: Until 2020, abortion in Poland was legal in three cases: when pregnancy threatened the life or health of the mother, when it resulted from a criminal act (such as rape or incest), or when a severe birth defect was diagnosed in the foetus. However, in November 2020, the constitutional court outlawed the third of those grounds, which had previously constituted around 97% of legal abortions. That ruling went into force in late January 2021.

Source: Chancellery of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Parliament) (http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930170078), Federation for Women and Family Planning (http://en.federa.org.pl/), Act of 7th January, 1993 on Family-Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Legal Pregnancy Termination. Art. 4a (http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930170078), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Poland

Abortion conditions

Ground Gestational limit
To save a woman’s life No limit
Because of foetal impairment
To preserve a woman’s mental health No limit
To preserve a woman’s physical health No limit
For economic and social reasons
On request

Source: Act of 7th January, 1993 on Family-Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Legal Pregnancy Termination. Art. 4a (http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930170078)

Legal conditions

  • Written consent by the woman
  • Pre-abortion referral from a physician
  • Pregnant woman life/health: physician specialist relevant to the type of the disease

Specific conditions for minors

  • Parent’s (or guardian’s) consent required for minors under 13
  • Consent of the guardianship court required for minors under 13; the minor has the right to express her own opinion.

Source:

  • Act of 7th January, 1993 on Family-Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Legal Pregnancy Termination. Art. 4a (http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930170078)

Practical conditions

Medical abortion conditions

Place Prescription 1st drug taken 2nd drug taken
OB/GYN department of a hospital/clinic Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable
Another physician office Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable
Midwife office Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable
Abortion centre/clinic Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable
At home Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable

Source:

Mandatory pre-abortion examinations

  • None

Involved healthcare professionals

  • Polish OBs/GYNs only provide their patients with induced miscarriage/early labour. Vacuum aspiration is not a method used in Polish hospitals. If the foetus reaches viability, OBs/GYNs often deny their patients’ requests to perform foetocide in utero despite WHO and FIGO recommendations. Foetocide was openly condemned by the President of the Polisg OB/GYN association in September 2024

 

Source:

  • Act of 7th January, 1993 on Family-Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Legal Pregnancy Termination. Art. 4a (http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930170078)

Abortion statistics

Abortion rates per 1,000 women aged 15-39

Source: https://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/ab-poland.html

Overall number of induced abortions

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1111313/poland-number-of-legal-abortions-1994-2018/

Abortion ratio per 1.000 live births: 1.6 (2023)

Source: https://dbw.stat.gov.pl/en/baza-danych

Abortions performed “on request”: % ()

Source:

Overall number of induced abortions vs. medical abortions

Source:

Induced abortions per gestational age ()

Unfortunately we have no data for this country.

Source:

Place of abortion (2023)

Source: https://en.federa.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2021-ANNUAL-REPORT.pdf

It is illegal to provide abortions in a setting different than a public hospital

Characteristics of women having induced abortion

Distribution of induced abortions according to woman age (2020)

Source: https://en.federa.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2021-ANNUAL-REPORT.pdf

Source:

Fertility and contraception

Fertility rates in women aged 15-49

Source: https://dbw.stat.gov.pl/en/baza-danych

Women age at first birth

  • 29.0 years of age (2023)

Source:

  • https://dbw.stat.gov.pl/en/baza-danych

Country-specific characteristics

  • Pre-abortion referral from a physician is required.
  • Physicians have the right to conscientiously object. He/She has the right to use the conscience clause and refuse to terminate a pregnancy and refrain from providing medical services incompatible with his/her conscience. This, however, can only happen when the delay is sure not to endanger a life, or pose the treat of serious health damage or serious injury. This right is being abused by physicians and hospitals resulting in the whole medical centres refusing to perform abortions.
  • The conscience clause does not apply to provision of contraceptives, yet is often illegally called upon in that context as well.
  • Surgical abortion is free of charge for resident women and for non-resident women who are employed, employee’s family members, refugees, registered job seekers or insured in the EU or the EFTA.
  • Polish hospitals do not provide any form of vacuum aspiration nor dilatation and evacuation. In a drastic majority of facilities, the only possibility of getting an abortion is to have a miscarriage/premature labour induced

Source:

  • Act of 7th January, 1993 on Family-Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Legal Pregnancy Termination. Art. 4a (http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930170078)
  • IPPF European Network (http://www.ippfen.org/)
  • Doctor and Dentist Professions Act of 5 December 1996, PL (http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930170078)

Download statistics of Poland

The statistics presented are freely accessible and may be used, copied, displayed or distributed provided that their source is given. You can choose whether you prefer to download the statistics of the last 10 years or the full data set. Press one of the buttons to generate a report in PDF format for this country.

Last 10 years
Full data set

Abbreviations: EFTA = European Free Trade Association | EU = European Union | IUD = intra-uterine device | LARC = long-acting reversible contraception | LMP = last menstruation period | GYN = gynaecologist | HCP = health care professional | hCG = human chorionic gonadotropin | HIV = human immunodeficiency virus | OB = obstetrician | Rh = Rhesus | US = ultrasound

A special thanks to our correspondents for contributing in data collection.
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Page last updated: 23 December 2024