After women in Poland went on strike and into the streets to protest—and after they gained much international support online and IRL—Polish lawmakers may not go through with proposed legislation that would basically ban abortion in the country. Minister of Science and Higher Education Jaroslaw Gowin even said the strikes “caused us to think and taught us humility.” It’s almost as if grassroots political action works!
Gowin said on Radio Kosazlin (which we translated via Google) that the government will “certainly not pass the total ban” and that women who are victims of rape, or whose lives are jeopardized by pregnancy, will still be able to get abortions. Senate Speaker Stanislaw Karczewski also said lawmakers would not initiate work on a more restrictive abortion bill.
The controversial legislation proposes to remove existing exceptions to abortion and to make it punishable by five years in prison. Today, a debate in the European Parliament will discuss women’s rights in Poland.
Update Oct. 6, 11:52am CT: Parliament officially struck down the abortion law 352 to 48.