Polish parliament votes through ‘pro-life’ bill
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
04.11.2016 15:05
Poland’s parliament passed a “pro-life” bill on Friday to support women carrying severely sick foetuses.
Photo: cc/Flickr.com/popularpatty
The bill includes a one-off PLN 4,000 (EUR 900) payout for women who give birth to a child which is severely disabled or has an incurable terminal illness.
A total of 267 MPs voted in favour of the bill on Friday, with 140 voting against and 21 abstaining.
The bill includes providing birth parents, legal guardians and care givers with palliative or rehabilitative care for children with medically certified illnesses, psychological care, cheaper medication, priority access to medical care and help with specific needs such as housing.
The government plans to introduce the programme by 31 December.
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said she hoped that the programme will offer enough support to families raising disabled children to stop terminations of complicated pregnancies.
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 anti-abortion bill after women in cities throughout Poland took to the streets in a so-called Black Protest. (rg/pk)