Polish lawmakers vote to move forward with work on lifting near-total abortion ban

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Polish lawmakers vote to move forward with work on lifting near-total abortion ban

2024-04-12 23:57 Last Updated At：04-13 00:00

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish lawmakers voted Friday to move forward with proposals to lift a near-total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe.

Members of the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, voted to work on four separate bills. Two of them propose legalizing abortion through the 12th week of pregnancy, in line with European norms. The Sejm also created a 27-member commission to work on the four bills. They voted for it to be led by Dorota Łoboda, a lawmaker who was formerly an activist with a women's rights group.

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Members of Poland's parliament vote on a proposal to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on four proposals that would loosen the law on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country which has a near-total ban. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish lawmakers voted Friday to move forward with proposals to lift a near-total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe.

Abortion rights activists react after Poland's parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Women's rights leader, Marta Lempart, speaks to reporters after the Polish parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists react after Poland's parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Members of Poland's parliament vote on a proposal to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on four proposals that would loosen the law on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country which has a near-total ban. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists react after Poland's parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Dariusz Matecki, a conservative lawmaker in the Polish parliament, displays a poster showing a fetus and the words "10th week after conception," during a vote on abortion in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on four proposals that would loosen the law on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country which has a near-total ban. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Dariusz Matecki, top right, a conservative lawmaker in the Polish parliament, displays a poster showing a fetus and the words "10th week after conception," during a vote on abortion in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on four proposals that would loosen the law on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country which has a near-total ban. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

An anti-abortion rights activists holds up small figures of fetuses at a protest held outside of the Polish parliament while lawmakers debated legalizing the country's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Anna Maria Żukowska, a left-wing lawmaker, presents to parliament a proposal for liberalizing the Polish abortion law in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Anti-abortion activists hold a demonstration with a sign that says "We defend children" as the Polish parliament debates liberalizing the abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

An anti-abortion rights activists holds up small figures of fetuses at a protest held outside of the Polish parliament while lawmakers debated legalizing the country's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists attend a debate in the Polish parliament from the gallery of the assembly, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Dariusz Matecki, a conservative lawmaker in the Polish parliament, displays a poster showing a fetus and the words "10th week after conception," during a debate on liberalizing the abortion law , in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. He also played the sound of a child's heartbeat through a microphone next to his chair. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists react during a debate in the Polish parliament from the gallery of the assembly, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish lawmakers voted Friday to move forward with proposals to lift a near-total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe.

Abortion rights activists react after Poland's parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Women's rights leader, Marta Lempart, speaks to reporters after the Polish parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists react after Poland's parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Members of Poland's parliament vote on a proposal to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on four proposals that would loosen the law on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country which has a near-total ban. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists react after Poland's parliament voted to continue work on proposals to liberalize Poland's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on proposals to lift a near total ban on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, which has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Dariusz Matecki, a conservative lawmaker in the Polish parliament, displays a poster showing a fetus and the words "10th week after conception," during a vote on abortion in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on four proposals that would loosen the law on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country which has a near-total ban. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Dariusz Matecki, top right, a conservative lawmaker in the Polish parliament, displays a poster showing a fetus and the words "10th week after conception," during a vote on abortion in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Polish lawmakers voted Friday to continue work on four proposals that would loosen the law on abortion, a divisive issue in the traditionally Roman Catholic country which has a near-total ban. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

An anti-abortion rights activists holds up small figures of fetuses at a protest held outside of the Polish parliament while lawmakers debated legalizing the country's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Anna Maria Żukowska, a left-wing lawmaker, presents to parliament a proposal for liberalizing the Polish abortion law in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Anti-abortion activists hold a demonstration with a sign that says "We defend children" as the Polish parliament debates liberalizing the abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

An anti-abortion rights activists holds up small figures of fetuses at a protest held outside of the Polish parliament while lawmakers debated legalizing the country's strict abortion law, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists attend a debate in the Polish parliament from the gallery of the assembly, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Dariusz Matecki, a conservative lawmaker in the Polish parliament, displays a poster showing a fetus and the words "10th week after conception," during a debate on liberalizing the abortion law , in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. He also played the sound of a child's heartbeat through a microphone next to his chair. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Abortion rights activists react during a debate in the Polish parliament from the gallery of the assembly, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 11, 2024. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe — but the reality is that many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

The party of centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk is seeking to change the law to allow women to terminate pregnancies up to the 12th week of pregnancy. Tusk won office last year after an election in which young people and women turned out in large numbers amid a record high turnout of nearly 75%. Political observers say voters were mobilized after the abortion law was restricted under the previous right-wing government.

Tusk said he believed Poland still probably has a long way to go to liberalize the law, but welcomed Friday's votes as a move in the right direction. He said he believed the country would ultimately end up with a law that gives women the feeling that they are not “an object of attack, contempt or disregard.”

Tusk is supported on the issue by the Left, a member of his three-party coalition. However, the third coalition partner, the more conservative Third Way, favors restrictions on abortion rights, and the issue has been a source of tension within the government.

Abortion rights advocates said the decision to continue work on the bills, and not reject them outright, was a step in the right direction, though they also don't expect real change in the law coming soon.

Kinga Jelińska, an activist who helps provide abortions with the group Women Help Women, described being “moderately satisfied.”

The Women's Strike, the Polish organization that led massive street protests as abortion rights were restricted, noted that it was the first time since 1996 that bills liberalizing legal access to abortion in Poland were not dropped in a primary vote.

Any liberalization bill would likely be vetoed by President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who last month vetoed a bill making the morning-after pill — which is not an abortion pill but emergency contraception — available over-the-counter to women and girls 15 and older. Duda’s second and final term runs until the summer of 2025.

Abortion opponents are also mobilized in the European Union country that has long considered the Catholic faith to be a bedrock of national identity, but which is also in the process of rapid secularization.

The Catholic church called on the faithful to make Sunday a day of prayer “in defense of conceived life," in a statement carried by the state news agency PAP. An anti-abortion demonstration called the March of Life is also being planned in downtown Warsaw that day.

Currently abortions are only allowed in the cases of rape or incest or if the woman's life or health is at risk. Reproductive rights advocates say that even in such cases, doctors and hospitals turn away women, fearing legal consequences for themselves or citing their moral objections. According to Health Ministry statistics, only 161 abortions were performed in Polish hospitals in 2022.

The reality is that many Polish women already have abortions, often with pills mailed from abroad. Reproductive rights advocates estimate that some 120,000 abortions are carried out each year by women living in Poland.

It is not a crime for a woman to perform her own abortion, only assisting a woman is a crime.

One of the four bills that now goes for further work is a proposal by the Left that would decriminalize assisting a woman who has an abortion, currently a crime punishable by three years in prison.

A fourth proposal, introduced by the Third Way, would keep a ban in most cases but allow abortions in cases of fetal defects — a right that was eliminated by a 2020 court ruling.

Associated Press writer Monika Scislowska in Warsaw contributed.

Police move in and begin dismantling pro-Palestinian demonstrators' encampment at UCLA

2024-05-02 19:38 Last Updated At：19:41

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police removed barricades and began dismantling a pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ fortified encampment early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles, after hundreds of protesters defied police orders to leave, about 24 hours after counterprotesters attacked a tent encampment on the campus.

Police detained a handful of people on campus, their wrists in zip ties. The action came after officers spent hours threatening arrests over loud speakers if people did not disperse. Hundreds of people had gathered on campus, both inside a barricaded tent encampment and outside of it in support.

As police helicopters hovered overhead, the sound of flash-bangs, which produce a bright light and a loud noise to disorient and stun people, pierced the air. Protesters chanted “where were you last night?” as the officers approached.

California Highway Patrol officers wearing face shields and protective vests stood with their batons protruding out to separate them from demonstrators, who wore helmets and gas masks and chanted, “you want peace. We want justice.”

Police methodically ripped apart the encampment’s barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fences and trash dumpsters and made an opening toward dozens of tents of demonstrators. Police also began to pull down canopies and tents. Demonstrators held umbrellas like shields as they faced off with dozens of officers.

The police action occurred a night after the UCLA administration and campus police waited hours to stop the counterprotesters’ attack. The delay drew condemnation from Muslim students and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Demonstrators rebuilt the makeshift barriers around their tents on Wednesday while state and campus police watched.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.

In the Mideast, Iranian state television carried live images of the police action, as did Qatar’s pan-Arab Al Jazeera satellite network. Live images of Los Angeles also played across Israeli television networks as well.

The tense standoff at UCLA came one night after violence instigated by counterprotesters erupted in the same place.

The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers. Fighting continued for several hours before police stepped in, though no arrests were made. At least 15 protesters suffered injuries, and the tepid response by authorities drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.

By Wednesday afternoon a small city sprang up inside the reenforced encampment, full of hundreds of people and tents on the campus quad. Some protesters said Muslim prayers as the sun set over the campus, while others chanted “we’re not leaving” or passed out goggles and surgical masks. They wore helmets and headscarves, and discussed the best ways to handle pepper spray or tear gas as someone sang over a megaphone.

A few constructed homemade shields out of plywood in case they clashed with police forming skirmish lines elsewhere on the campus. “For rubber bullets, who wants a shield?" a protester called out.

Outside the encampment, a crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on campus steps, joining in pro-Palestinian chants. A group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people demonstrated nearby.

The crowd continued to grow as the night wore on as more and more officers poured onto campus.

Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

“We need to take a stand for it,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

Elsewhere, police in New Hampshire said they made 90 arrests and took down tents at Dartmouth College and officers in Oregon came onto the campus at Portland State University as school officials sought to end the occupation of the library that started Monday.

The chaotic scenes at UCLA came after New York police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school.

An Associated Press tally counted at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the previous night's attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.

“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,” he said. “It has shaken our campus to its core.”

Block promised a review of the night's events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the delays.

The head of the University of California system, Michael Drake, ordered an “independent review of the university’s planning, its actions and the response by law enforcement.”

“The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,” Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a news conference on the Los Angeles campus Wednesday.

Speakers disputed the university’s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher. One student described needing to go to the hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.

Several students who spoke during the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counter-protesters. UCLA canceled classes Wednesday.

At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a scrum broke out early Wednesday after police with shields removed all but one tent and shoved protesters. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. Four were charged with battering law enforcement.

This is all playing out in an election year in the U.S., raising questions about whether young voters — who are critical for Democrats — will back President Joe Biden's reelection effort, given his staunch support of Israel.

In rare instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.

At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand.

The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas launching a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

Meanwhile, protest encampments elsewhere were cleared by the police, resulting in arrests, or closed up voluntarily at schools across the U.S., including The City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and Tulane University in New Orleans.

Offenhartz and Frederick reported from New York. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including John Antczak, Christopher L. Keller, Lisa Baumann, Cedar Attanasio, Jonathan Mattise, Stefanie Dazio, Jae C. Hong, Colleen Long, Karen Matthews, Sarah Brumfield, Carolyn Thompson, Philip Marcelo, Corey Williams and Felicia Fonseca.