“In most cases, the women are around 40 years old and carrying a fetus with abnormalities,” she said, pulling up an image from a recent ultrasound. “Twelve weeks. Six centimeters long. No brains, no arms, no legs. Intestines outside the abdomen.”
Like millions of Poles who supported the end of right-wing rule, Kubica hopes the country's new centrist government can bridge the gap between Poland and most of the rest of Europe.
On abortion, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to replace one of the strictest policies in Europe with new legislation – not only allowing the return of early abortion in cases of fetal anomalies, but ensuring legal and safe abortion care through 12 weeks of pregnancy.
However, obstacles remain formidable, with divisions within the ruling coalition, a veto-wielding president allied with the right-wing Law and Justice Party, and the entrenched Constitutional Court appointed by the previous government.
For some Poles, the jubilation over last fall's elections is already giving way to frustration and doubts about whether a change of government might succeed in washing away – or at least weakening – a decade of right-wing politics.
Tusk introduces abortion rights bill
When Tusk's Civic Alliance group introduced an abortion rights bill this week, he warned that it may not have enough support to pass.
“Today it seems that there is no such majority, but there is certainly a majority to change the status quo,” Tusk told reporters on Thursday.
He pledged during his election campaign to deregulate abortion within his first 100 days in office, which he sets as a deadline of March 21. This week, he said a vote was unlikely before April.
The draft law stipulates the following: “The pregnant woman has the right to obtain health care in the form of termination of pregnancy until the end of the twelfth week of its term.” Abortion is permitted after that period in cases that pose a threat to the woman's life or health, involve birth defects, or result from rape or incest.
The bill stipulates that all providers who receive public funding for pregnancy care must provide abortions — and appoint alternative doctors if an individual refuses under a “conscience clause.”
A separate bill was introduced this week He seeks to restore over-the-counter access to the morning-after pill.
While the birth control pill legislation is expected to win parliamentary approval, the chances of the broader bill are less favourable.
Marek Sawicki, a senior figure in junior coalition partner Third Way, told Polish media on Thursday that he was part of “a large group of MPs who will definitely not support this bill.” Some Third Way leaders have proposed holding a national referendum on the issue.
Meanwhile, some on the left want to go further and decriminalize abortion assistance, repealing a 1997 law that makes helping someone have an unauthorized abortion a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.
Even if the two Civic Coalition bills pass through Parliament, they could be vetoed by President Andrzej Duda or rejected by the Constitutional Court.
Pregnant women and health care providers remain in limbo
The Polish woman was left in limbo. In the past three years, the Public Prosecution has investigated six cases in which pregnant women died after doctors refused to terminate their pregnancies. For those who are pregnant now, will the policy be different in 12 weeks?
Health care providers are in limbo too – especially those caught up in the crackdown on illegal abortions encouraged by the last government.
Last spring, in a landmark case, a Polish court convicted activist Justyna Wiederzynska of illegally providing abortion pills and sentenced her to eight months of community service. Her lawyers appealed her conviction in May, and are still awaiting a court date. She said she had low expectations for radical changes in Poland's abortion policies before the 2025 presidential election, when Duda's term ends.
“As an activist, I am happy to see the discussions in parliament,” said Wiederzynska, who continues to help women get abortions. But as a normal person, there are discussions, but nothing happens. “It's very frustrating.”
Also pending is that of a 30-year-old man in southern Poland who pleaded guilty to helping his partner have a miscarriage by obtaining prescription painkillers through a friend. A judge postponed the trial on its first day in November, indicating that the regulations might change soon.
For Kubissa, 58, change can't come fast enough. She said she stopped seeing pregnant women at her clinic in Szczecin, Poland, after the court ruling three years ago. “I could not get these women to carry a fetus with serious defects to full term,” she said. She began working in exile part-time, returning to Poland once a week to handle other gynecological appointments.
Then in November — after the election but before Tusk took office — she was accused of helping five women obtain abortion pills, in violation of a 1997 law. Prosecutors said the charges were based on witness statements, information from her mobile phone and seized documents.
Kubissa denies these accusations. She assumes that when armed government agents raided her Polish clinic a year ago, they took the notebooks used at her clinic in Germany. Human Rights Watch classified that raid as part of the “speculative investigations and large-scale inspections” carried out by the previous government to advance its political agenda and create a climate of fear.
How Poland ended up with one of the strictest abortion policies in Europe
During most of the second half of the 20th century, abortion was legal under Poland's communist government. When communist rule ended in 1989, the Catholic Church began pushing for stricter abortion laws.
“The church entered the post-communist period with a lot of political capital. It clearly has an agenda,” said Aleks Szczerbiak, an expert on Polish politics at the University of Sussex.
In 1993, the legislature passed a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of incest or rape, if the mother's health is in danger, or if the fetus is diagnosed with a severe birth defect.
“It is often referred to as the ‘abortion settlement,’ even though the settlement actually produced one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe,” Szczerbiak said.
When PiS came to power in 2015, it sought to limit abortion further. Her attempt to legislate a near-total ban was rejected amid massive protests. So PiS lawmakers sought a ruling from the Constitutional Court, and the court, which was packed with PiS loyalists, struck down one of the three pillars of the abortion settlement. Severe fetal abnormalities are no longer considered sufficient justification.
How abortion became a prominent election issue
The court's ruling was widely unpopular, sparking the largest protests in Poland since the fall of communism.
Several surveys indicate that support for liberalizing the country's abortion laws grew while PiS was in power. This may be partly a reaction to right-wing pressure for more restrictions. It may also reflect that Poland has been rapidly secularizing over the past decade, Szczerbiak said. He added that many people who express support for abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy indicate hesitation when asked whether such abortions should be allowed for any reason.
However, although Tusk did not attempt to dismantle abortion restrictions in Poland the last time he served as prime minister, from 2007 to 2014, his party cited restoring abortion rights as a key rallying point in this past election, Analysts say that this position helped bring the new government to power. Even the outgoing PiS Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, argued that seeking the court's ruling on abortion was a mistake.
Abortion rights activists are now demanding that Tusk's government stick to its election promises.
Kubissa said she hopes abortion will become legal again due to fetal abnormalities. Ultimately, she would also like to repeal the 1997 law that criminalizes assisted abortion.
“Of course it will be a relief for me personally, but also for women,” she said. “Right now it seems like no one wants to help them. People are afraid to help them, and the younger generation has been turned away from my profession.”
De Vinck reported from Brussels.
