Women are set to stage demonstrations in more than 20 cities and towns across Poland on Thursday, demanding free access to legal abortions and accusing Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s liberal government of failing to deliver on its promise to ease the country’s strict abortion laws.
The protests come despite parliament passing two bills on Tuesday aimed at relaxing abortion restrictions. However, conservative President Karol Nawrocki is likely to veto both measures.
Zofia Marcinek of the Warsaw-based reproductive rights group Abortion Dream Team described the government’s decision to introduce the bills just a year before the next parliamentary election as “token gestures” rather than a genuine attempt at reform.
Marcinek argued that the government knew the legislation was unlikely to survive a presidential veto but wanted to create the impression of taking action to secure women’s support ahead of next year’s elections.
Poland’s Strict Abortion Laws And Years Of Protests
Since 1993, Poland, a predominantly Catholic country, has imposed severe restrictions on abortion. The law initially permitted the procedure in cases of serious foetal abnormalities, threats to the woman’s life or health, or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
Women’s rights groups have campaigned for liberalisation for decades, including through the nationwide “Black Protest” movement, which began in 2016 and saw women dressed in black take to the streets.
However, restrictions tightened further in 2020 under the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, when abortions involving foetuses with congenital defects were banned.
Despite the restrictions, abortions remain common, with most reportedly carried out privately at home using pills obtained from abroad.
Women who undergo abortions, including those using medication, do not face criminal prosecution under Polish law. However, those assisting them, including doctors and family members, can potentially face legal action.
Abortion remains a taboo subject in Poland, which has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, with only Malta imposing tighter limits.
Activists Accuse Tusk Government Of Misleading Women
Tusk’s pro-European coalition came to power in 2023 partly on a promise to liberalise abortion laws. However, in 2024, he acknowledged that his government would struggle to overcome a likely veto by a conservative president.
Instead, his administration introduced measures aimed at preventing hospitals from refusing legally permitted abortions on religious grounds.
“The state will increasingly effectively stand on the side of the woman when she is making dramatic decisions in her life,” Tusk said in 2024 while announcing the measures.
According to Poland’s national health fund, hospitals performed 573 abortions in the first half of 2026, compared with 452 during the whole of 2022, before Tusk took office.
Activists, however, estimate that tens of thousands of abortions take place outside hospitals every year.
Organisers of Thursday’s demonstrations accuse the government of betraying women and argue that Tusk’s claims of improved abortion access have made it harder for some women to obtain timely assistance.
“The government’s promises act as a type of disinformation,” Marcinek told AP. “Women getting pregnant hear the prime minister say that everything is ok, that there is access to abortion, and then they end up in the hospital and see that is not the case. So they come to us when it’s very late and very complicated and expensive to help them.”
Marcinek also claimed that international donors have become less willing to support Polish women’s rights organisations because they mistakenly believe access to abortion has improved.
Also Watch:
Activists Set Up Abortion Pill Dispenser Near Parliament
In 2025, the Abortion Dream Team opened an “abortion clinic” opposite the parliament building in Warsaw, offering women information about their options and a place to take abortion pills with support from activists.
In September 2026, the group also introduced a parcel locker dispensing abortion pills at the same location, nicknamed “Abortomat”.
Operated by the international feminist non-profit organisation Women Help Women, the dispenser allows women seeking abortions to collect pills the following day instead of waiting up to two weeks for home delivery, according to Marcinek.
“There are also people who cannot safely order such pills at their own address, for example because of an unsupportive family or abusive partner,” she said. “These women can get a pin number and pick up the pills in the machine the next day.”
The activists say the initiative is designed to help women access abortion medication while navigating Poland’s restrictive legal framework.
“In Poland, assisting with an abortion is a criminal offence. Even passing the pills from hand to hand can be considered a crime,” the Abortion Dream Team said in a statement. “That’s why we’re hacking the Criminal Code and bringing abortion into the 21st century.”
