GENEVA, 26.08.2025—One year after the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued landmark findings that Poland’s restrictive abortion law causes grave and systematic human rights violations, the government has yet to fully implement its recommendations. Poland is one of only two European Union member states that has not legalised abortion on request.

Following a three-year inquiry into the effects of the law, the CEDAW Committee issued its findings in August 2024. It found that Poland’s abortion law inflicts intense physical and mental suffering on women and violates their fundamental rights to health, equality, non-discrimination, freedom from ill-treatment and reproductive autonomy. The Committee called for comprehensive legal reform to legalise and fully decriminalise abortion. As an interim measure, it also urged the government to adopt a moratorium on arrests, investigations and prosecutions of those providing assistance to women seeking abortion care.

“For too long, women in Poland have endured the devastating consequences of a law that prohibits essential health care,” said Adriana Lamačková, Associate Director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “One year after the release of the CEDAW Committee’s landmark findings, meaningful legal changes are still outstanding. The UN findings are clear: the only way to safeguard women’s health and dignity is to legalise and decriminalise abortion. As an urgent first step we call for an interim moratorium on criminal investigations and prosecutions while law reform remains pending.”

“Every day, the cycle of harm and injustice continues. We urge the Polish government to treat abortion law reform as a matter of priority,” said Kamila Ferenc, Vice-President and Lawyer at the Foundation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA). “Clear and timely action is essential to ensure that everyone in Poland can access safe and legal abortion care when they need it. We are fully committed to work with lawmakers and the government to make this a reality.”

Women in Poland, including refugees and those from marginalised communities, continue to suffer under one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws. The anniversary of the CEDAW Committee’s findings should be a turning point for the Polish government to accelerate efforts for meaningful abortion law reform in order to ensure Poland’s compliance with its international human rights obligations and guarantee women’s health and safety.

Background

In August 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women released its findings following a three-year inquiry into the harm caused by Poland’s highly restrictive abortion law. The inquiry was initiated following submissions by the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Foundation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA) and the Karat Coalition.

The inquiry findings are groundbreaking in their recognition of the extensive harm caused by Poland’s abortion law. This is the first comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the numerous human rights violations caused by the highly restrictive law and criminalisation of abortion in Poland.

Polish law permits abortion only in cases of risk to the life or health of a pregnant woman, or if a pregnancy results from rape. Even in these cases, obtaining a legal abortion is almost impossible in practice. In recent years, several women have died in Polish hospitals because they were denied life-saving abortion care during pregnancy complications.

In April 2024, the Polish Sejm established a special parliamentary commission, comprised of members of parliament, to review distinct legislative reform proposals seeking to decriminalise or legalise abortion. The proposals remain pending in the commission, and it remains unclear when the process will move forward.