(Corrects headline and paragraph 1 to indicate that no complaints have been made to Polish authorities, not the European Court of Human Rights; removes reference to European Court of Human Rights in paragraphs 1 and 5)
WARSAW, March 12 (Reuters) – The number of legal abortions in Poland doubled in 2024, while complaints to Polish authorities over conscience clause refusals in the country have ceased, the Council of Europe said on Thursday.
Poland, a predominantly Catholic country, introduced a near-total abortion ban in 2021 under the previous nationalist government after pregnancy termination due to foetal abnormalities was ruled unconstitutional.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European coalition won the 2023 election partly on the promise it would ease the restrictions, but it has so far failed to agree on a bill. Nationalist President Karol Nawrocki has signalled he will block any attempt at liberalisation.
However, Tusk’s government has taken steps to enforce the existing law. Ministers issued recommendations to hospitals and prosecutors clarifying that abortion on the grounds of a woman’s mental health is legal, and that all hospitals are obliged to provide the procedure.
The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers said on Thursday the government’s actions “appear to bring results in practice.”
“The number of lawful abortions has doubled year to year and no complaints have recently been received about the refusal of abortion based on the conscience clause”, the committee said in its decision on Poland’s compliance with judgments concerning access to legal abortion.
It also noted “that since the introduction of the unconditional obligation of hospitals to provide abortion as a contracted medical service, no complaint has been reported about a refusal of lawful abortion based on the conscience clause.”
The committee, however, expressed regret over the lack of progress in adopting legislation on the safe termination of pregnancy.
Health ministry data shows that nearly 900 legal abortions were performed in Polish hospitals in 2024, compared with 425 a year earlier. There were 411 legal terminations in the first half of 2025, with full-year data not yet available.
Before the 2021 ruling that tightened the law, more than 1,000 abortions were performed annually in Poland, nearly all attributed to foetal abnormalities.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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