Polish president in favour of more restrictive abortion laws
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
29.10.2016 13:08
Polish President Andrzej Duda has announced he would support a bill introducing tighter restrictions on abortions of foetuses with disabilities if one was passed in parliament.
Andrzej Duda. Photo: PAP/Jakub Kamiński.
Duda said Poland’s current conservative laws, which allow abortion in cases of rape, incest and problem foetuses, including those with Down's syndrome, are “ineffective”.
“I believe that the lives of these children are too poorly protected at the moment,” Duda said in an interview with television station Polsat News.
His comments follow Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło's Friday announcement of a support programme for families raising disabled children, called “Pro-Life”.
She hopes the programme will offer enough support to families raising disabled children to encourage them to take the option of terminating pregnancies off the table.
Szydło first mentioned the programme after parliament threw out a controversial citizens' bill proposing a total ban on abortion and jail time for women who had terminations.
Deputies voted against the bill after women in cities throughout Poland took to the streets in a so-called Black Protest. (vb/pk)
Source: PAP