http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/world/europe/poland-abortion-law-protests.html 2016-10-06 13:25:57 Poland Steps Back From Stricter Anti-Abortion Law After growing protests and an embarrassing debate in the European Parliament, the proposal to tighten existing legislation was voted down by lawmakers. === WARSAW — After growing protests from Polish women and an embarrassing debate in the European Parliament, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the right-wing party, which has a solid majority in Parliament, said that while the government agreed with the intent of the legislation, it opposed the version that had been proposed by a citizens’ anti-abortion group. “Observing the social developments, we have come to a conclusion that this legislation will have an opposite effect to the one that was intended,” he said. “This is not the right way to proceed.” Poland already has among the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, providing exceptions only in cases of incest, rape and nonviable fetuses, or when the mother’s life is threatened. Three days after Tightening abortion laws has been a priority for the Catholic Church, which plays a powerful role in the country and is closely allied with Mr. Kaczynski’s party. The vote came a day after a parliamentary commission voted, at the end of a raucous session, not to support the legislation in Thursday’s ballot, the second round of voting. Law and Justice members had voted overwhelmingly to move the bill forward in the first round of voting last month, but party leaders subsequently changed tack. Party officials said they had objected to the bill in part because it would have punished women who received abortions. The bill also called for prison sentences for doctors who performed the procedures. Joanna Banasiuk, a leader of Ordo Iuris, the anti-abortion group that drafted the bill, reacted angrily to the government’s shift, but she said her organization would accept changing the legislation to remove punishments for women who receive abortions. “What has happened in the last 14 days that you decided to go from protecting human life from the moment of conception to this?” she asked. Law and Justice officials said that the government intended to stick with the current law for the time being, but that it was considering future changes. Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said on Thursday in Parliament that her government’s main job was to protect human life from the moment of conception. She added that by the end of the year, the government would prepare a national program to support families with disabled children and women who give birth even after finding out their fetuses have genetic disorders.