WARSAW, March 12 – Legal abortion procedures in Poland increased by 100% during 2024, and grievances filed with the European Court of Human Rights regarding healthcare providers declining to perform abortions have come to a halt, according to Thursday’s announcement from the Council of Europe.
The Catholic-majority nation implemented extremely restrictive abortion legislation in 2021 during the prior nationalist administration’s tenure, after courts declared pregnancy terminations for fetal defects to be unconstitutional.
Donald Tusk’s pro-European coalition government secured victory in the 2023 elections, campaigning in part on promises to relax these limitations, though lawmakers have yet to reach consensus on new legislation. Nationalist President Karol Nawrocki has indicated his intention to veto any liberalization efforts.
Nevertheless, Tusk’s administration has worked to better implement current laws. Government officials provided guidance to medical facilities and legal prosecutors, making clear that terminating pregnancies for maternal mental health reasons remains lawful, and mandating that all hospitals must offer these services.
The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, responsible for monitoring compliance with European Court of Human Rights decisions, stated Thursday that the government’s measures “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 stated in its assessment of Poland’s adherence to court decisions regarding legal abortion access.
The committee further observed “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.”
Despite these improvements, the committee voiced disappointment regarding the absence of legislative progress on comprehensive pregnancy termination safety measures.
Polish Health Ministry statistics reveal that approximately 900 legal abortions took place in the country’s hospitals during 2024, up from 425 the previous year. Medical facilities performed 411 legal procedures in the first six months of 2025, with complete annual figures still pending.
Prior to the 2021 court decision that restricted access, Polish hospitals conducted over 1,000 abortions each year, with fetal abnormalities accounting for nearly all cases.
