Poland's centrist government suffers defeat in vote on liberalizing abortion law

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his centrist coalition government suffered a bitter defeat Friday in parliament, where a slim majority rejected legislation that would have eased the strict anti-abortion law.

The vote was 218-215 with two abstentions to reject the liberalization draft.

Tusk and his liberal Civic Coalition parliamentary caucus supported the draft that would have lifted the current punishment for persons aiding women in abortion. They face up to three years in prison.

The liberalization was a key element in Tusk’s program of reversing various policies of the previous right-wing government that have drawn massive protests.

However, some lawmakers of the wider ruling coalition — notably of the agrarian Polish People's Party, but also some others — voted against the change, exposing cracks in the governing bloc.

Out of 460 seats in the lower house, or Sejm, Tusk's Civic Coalition caucus has 157 seats, coalition members Third Road and the agrarian party have another 63 votes, while allied Left party contributes another 23 votes, to jointly hold a majority.

Left wing lawmakers, who promoted the draft, vowed to repeatedly resubmit, until it is adopted.

However, conservative President Andrzej Duda, who was allied with the previous right-wing government of Law and Justice party, said this week he will not sign the liberalization because, to him, abortion means killing people.

Hours after the vote, Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia said the parliament website fell victim to hacking and was inaccessible around the time of the vote. It was not immediately clear whether that had any influence on the vote.