Włodzimierz Czarzasty, the Deputy Speaker of the Sejm and co-chair of the New Left, said that the Confederation with the Third Way blocked a request to the Sejm Presidium to advance draft abortion laws during the current session of the Sejm.
Earlier in the day, the Marshal of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, announced on TVN24 that he planned to push abortion legislation in the Sejm on April 11, right after the first round of local elections. He stated he would submit such a recommendation to the Presidium of the Sejm and the Seniors’ Convention and insisted that he had done all he could to ensure the Sejm would take the proposals seriously.
But the political reality is far from ideal; the country is in the midst of a heated election campaign, Hołownia acknowledged.
The move provoked anger among left-wing politicians, who accused Hołownia of using a parliamentary freeze. The controversy intensified when the Left’s co-chair launched a strong attack, directing blame at the Third Way and the Confederation.
READ ALSO: War in Tusk’s coalition! It began with Hołownia’s decision on abortion projects. The freezer went away and came back quickly. COMMENTS
Czarzasty accuses the Third Way and the Confederacy
After an evening Sejm Presidium meeting, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, Deputy Speaker and New Left co-chair, said he had urged the Presidium to move forward with abortion draft laws during the current Sejm session. The period noted was March 6–8.
He pointed out that three people supported the motion — himself and two deputy speakers of the Civic Platform: Dorota Niedziela and Monika Wielichowska — while the Sejm Marshal and leader of Poland 2050, Szymon Hołownia, and deputy marshals Piotr Zgorzelski (PSL) and Krzysztof Bosak (Confederation) opposed it. Czarzasty noted that because the Speaker’s vote is counted twice, his motion did not pass in the vote.
“I am surprised that this issue was blocked with votes from the Confederation and the Third Way. I did not expect such a coalition,” he remarked.
The deputy marshal added that he still believed women’s rights should not be viewed as a matter of worldview or ideology. “As a left-wing party, we are extremely consistent on this issue,” he emphasized. He also stressed that the move would not threaten the governing coalition’s functioning.
READ MORE: Third Way Ultimatum. Hołownia and Kosiniak-Kamysz find an unexpected ally. Wipler says: “You have our votes.”
Hołownia responds
Asked about Czarzasty’s remarks, Hołownia said he had done absolutely everything possible to increase the chances that the Sejm would actually change Poland’s situation for women. “This is my goal,” he asserted. He reminded that the country was in a highly specific political moment and in the midst of a very heated campaign.
Hołownia warned that the real risk now was not so much that the Third Way projects would be rejected, but that left-leaning proposals could be rejected at the first reading, possibly along with KO and some Third Way projects.
He added that it fell to him as Sejm chair to minimize this risk and that April 11 would be the deadline by which these projects would be considered.
Abortion projects
Last November, the left submitted two bills aimed at liberalizing abortion rules. One proposal partially decriminalizes abortion and its assistance, while another would allow termination up to the end of the twelfth week of gestation.
At the end of January this year, a project from MPs in the Civic Coalition parliamentary club was introduced to the Sejm. It would entitle a pregnant person to health care including termination within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.
Alongside these proposals, Trzecia Droga, comprising PSL and Polska 2050, submitted a bill at the end of February that seeks to reverse the Constitutional Court’s 2020 ruling on abortion rules. TD politicians also announced a referendum proposal on the issue.
Poland’s anti-abortion rules, in place since 1993, were amended after the Constitutional Court’s October 2020 ruling. Previously, the Abortion Law allowed termination in cases of severe fetal impairment or an incurable disease threatening the pregnant person’s life; the Court ruled that ground unconstitutional.
READ MORE:
– The extreme ideas of the left lack broad support. Most Poles oppose abortion on demand. QUESTIONNAIRE
– The Archbishop’s strong appeal. Gadecki. Opposition to liberalizing abortion legislation. Life from conception must be protected
olnk/PAP/wPolityce.pl
Citation: wPolityce