According to the new rules, abortion in Poland will only be legal in two situations – if the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life and health or if a woman becomes pregnant after rape or incest.
Small protests met on Wednesday night after an announcement that PiS would take the official step to enforce the decision soon, and abortion rights activists announced that more would happen on Thursday.
Abortion has emerged as one of the most controversial issues since PiS came to power in 2015, promising the poorest, oldest and least educated Poles to return to a traditional society mixed with generous welfare policies.
The court’s verdict was published in the official gazette on Wednesday night.
“This stupid decision will not prevent abortion,” said Cezary Jasiński, a 23-year-old student, in front of the Constitutional Court building in central Warsaw.
“But for every woman who will feel pain because of that decision, or is forced to give birth to a child with Down syndrome, they (the judges) will be to blame.”
Last year’s protests quickly turned into an outbreak of anger against the government, especially among young people, suggesting that PiS may face a new challenge from new voters in the coming years.
On Wednesday, officials said the government will now focus on helping parents of disabled children, although PiS, like its centrist predecessors, has been accused by critics of not doing enough in this regard.
“The state can no longer take a life just because someone is sick, disabled or in poor health,” said PiS lawmaker Bartlomiej Wroblewski.
The party denies the opposition’s criticism that it influenced the court, called the Constitutional Court. It is one of Organs judicial bodies that PiS revised during the reforms that, according to the European Union, politicized the courts.
“No law-abiding government should respect this decision,” Borys Budka, leader of Poland’s largest opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform, told reporters.
Access to abortion has declined even without legislative restrictions, as more doctors refuse to perform it for religious reasons and many women seek abortion abroad.
In a justification published on Wednesday, the court left open the possibility for parliament to regulate certain circumstances provided for in the law.
Marek Suski, a PiS lawmaker, said the party would consider introducing new rules that could allow the most extreme fetal deformities to be excluded. But political commentators say that consensus between PiS and its conservative government allies would be difficult to achieve.
“In cases where the fetus does not have a skull or has no chance of living outside the womb, there must be a choice. We will work on it,” Suski told public radio.
Opinion polls have shown some decline in the popularity of PiS in recent months, but an opinion poll conducted by CBOS researcher, affiliated with the government, showed that it dropped to 35% this month, compared to 30% in October. PiS and his two small parliamentary allies won reelection in 2019 with 44% of the vote.