Polish Sejm passes a bill restoring abortion on the ground of severe foetal abnormality

20 October 2026

The Sejm, the lower house of Poland's parliament, passed the bill by 233 votes to 203 with one abstention. The bill amends the law on family planning, protection of the foetus and the conditions for legal abortion. It restores severe foetal abnormality as a ground for lawful abortion, a ground removed by the Constitutional Tribunal in its ruling of 22 October 2020. Lawmakers of the Third Way group submitted the bill in February 2024. The Sejm the same day backed a second bill decriminalising help given to a woman obtaining an abortion, by 217 votes to 213. Both bills now go to the Senate, the upper house, and then to President Karol Nawrocki for signature.