A person who terminates her pregnancy with the woman’s consent, if no more than twelve weeks have elapsed since the beginning of the pregnancy, does not commit a crime. This is one of the assumptions of the bill to amend the Criminal Code, introduced by the Left. The bill was posted on Sejm’s website on Tuesday.
The change proposed by the left would also rule out the criminalization of termination of pregnancy with the woman’s consent in cases of serious, irreversible damage to the fetus or its incurable disease.
As indicated in the rationale for the project, this concerns “the partial decriminalization of acts related to termination of pregnancy: the complete exclusion of the crime of terminating a pregnancy up to the twelfth week with the consent of the woman and the exclusion from criminalization of terminating a pregnancy with the woman’s consent in case of serious, irreversible damage or incurable disease of the fetus.” The representative of the applicants is MP Anna Maria Żukowska.
According to the current wording of the Criminal Code, “whoever terminates her pregnancy with the woman’s consent in violation of the provisions of the law will be subject to a prison sentence of up to three years.” The change proposed by the left provides for a fine or restriction of freedom.
The left project also aims to completely repeal the next paragraph of this provision, which states that “whoever helps a pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy in violation of the provisions of the law or encourages her to do so will be subject to the same punishment . .”
If the conceived child has achieved the ability to live independently outside the body of the pregnant woman, only the person who, with the woman’s consent, terminates her pregnancy will be subject to a prison sentence of six months to eight years, and not the person who helps her have an abortion or encourages her to do so.
Until the twelfth week
According to the bill, “any person who terminates her pregnancy with the woman’s consent, if not more than twelve weeks have elapsed since the beginning of the pregnancy,” would not commit a crime. Following the proposed amendment, termination of pregnancy would also be criminalized, provided that the woman consented and “prenatal tests or other medical reasons indicate a high risk of serious and irreversible damage to the fetus or of an incurable disease that threatens its life.”
According to the project’s authors, “the proposed changes are partly intended to ensure the implementation of social principles deriving from the Constitution.” According to the left, the change will “help protect the relatives and close relatives of women who try to help women on their own in their decision to terminate their pregnancies,” i.e. abortion.
The petitioners indicate that “the bill does not require additional resources from the state budget” or “additional executive actions.” It was noted that “it is not contrary to European Union law.”
On Tuesday, the project was submitted to Parliament’s Legislative Bureau for advice.
The liberalization of abortion legislation is one of the points of the left-wing programme. Also in the election manifesto of the Civic Coalition are the so-called Due to the specific details, a postulate was included that abortion should be legal, safe and accessible up to the twelfth week of pregnancy, and that no hospital operating under the National Health Fund conscience clause to refuse the procedure.
Under current regulations, abortion is legal in two cases: pregnancy as a result of rape and when the woman’s life or health is in danger. The third condition for the legality of abortion – when prenatal tests showed a high probability of serious and irreversible damage to the fetus – was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in October 2020.
The decision of the Constitutional Court caused a wave of protests organized by women’s rights groups, supported by, among others, the left and many politicians from the Civic Coalition. The Left then proposed a solution, which it called the “rescue law” – the idea was to adopt regulations that would decriminalize abortion and assistance therein, without violating the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
During the new term of the Sejm, the left-wing parliamentary club will have 26 deputies and 9 senators.
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mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce