Abortion in Poland

Time	Description of environment	Results	Source	Comment
1932-09-01	/On 11 July 1932, the restrictive legislation was modified to allow abortion when a pregnancy endangered the life or health of the woman or resulted from a crime (rape or incest). The law required a legal abortion to be performed by a physician with the consent of two other physicians./		un.org	The law came into effect 1932-09-01.
1956	/[...] law in Poland adopted in 1956 allows for the abortion for social indications, until week 20; medical indications, until the 2nd trimester; or when pregnancy was a result of rape./	/The law resulted an elimination of deaths related to abortion, also a reduction in the number of miscarriages./	nih.gov
1990	/In 1990, the Ministry of Health imposed restrictions on abortions at publicly funded hospitals,/	/and 3 deaths were reported from self-induced abortions./	nih.gov
1992-05	/Further restrictions were introduced in May 1992 as part of the "Ethical Code for Physicians," which allows abortions only in cases where the mother's life or health is in danger or in cases or rape./		nih.gov
1993	/In 1993, Parliament enacted further restrictions on access to abortion by eliminating entirely “difficult living conditions” as a ground for the performance of legal abortions./ /A ban was also placed on the performance of abortions in private clinics./		un.org
1996	/to allow abortions to be performed on the grounds of difficult living conditions or a precarious personal situation up until the twelfth week of pregnancy. The pregnant woman would be required to undergo counselling, give written consent to the operation, and wait three days after the counselling until the abortion took place. The law once again allowed abortions to be performed in private clinics. It also set a 12-week limit for abortions performed on the grounds of health, foetal impairment or as a result of a criminal act (rape or incest), and provided for sex education in schools and cheaper contraceptives./		un.org