Most Poles oppose changes to abortion law: survey

A poll showed that 58 percent of Poles are opposed to changes in the Polish abortion regulations, Polish Press Agency reported Monday.

A total of 27 percent of respondents are in favor of liberalizing Poland's abortion law, and only 7 percent are in favor of tightening it, according to a survey by pollster CBOS.

At the same time, 58 percent of respondents supported a series of "black protests" held earlier this year against initiatives to make Poland's abortion law more restrictive, the poll showed. Twenty-six percent of those polled said they opposed these protests.

Seventeen percent of Polish women and 6 percent of men declared they dressed in black to show solidarity with the protesters on the days the protests were held, according to CBOS. Four percent of the women polled and 2 percent of the men said they actively joined the protests.

CBOS carried out the survey from Nov. 4 to 13 on a representative sample of 1,019 respondents.

The black protests were organized to protest Parliament's plan to completely ban abortion. The Law and Justice-backed measure threatened jail time for women who broke the law.

Furthermore, it would make it illegal to freeze embryos or to fertilize more than one egg at a time, measures aimed at curbing in vitro fertilization.

As a result, the Polish society is split into two groups: conservative pro-life supporters and progressives that either support the existing consensus or want to liberalize the current abortion law. Endit