Kinga Duda's statement regarding ruling on tighter abortion law

The provision allowing women to terminate pregnancy in case of severe and irreversible damage of the foetus or incurable and life-threatening disease will no longer be effective once the ruling by the Constitutional Court (TK) has been published in the Journal of Laws.

Protests against the said ruling have been going on for seven days now. After Monday's blockages and marches in dozens of Polish cities and towns, people took to the streets again on Tuesday. Thousands joined in bigger cities, while hundreds and sometimes dozens in the smaller ones. Another protest began on Wednesday and further demonstrations are set to take place in the coming days.

Protesters have been pointing out that neither the First Lady, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, nor the president's daughter Kinga Duda, have commented on the issue. The latter, on the election night, called upon Poles to be tolerant of each other.

On Wednesday, Kinga Duda posted a statement on Twitter, in which she admitted she understood that women were outraged by the TK's verdict. "However, the discussion that was initially on the ruling, now seems to be a rebellion against everything" - she wrote. "Some of the protesters resort to extreme actions, to which there can be no consent - acts of violence, damaging property, churches, offending people not sharing the views of the extreme part of the protesters" - she added.

Kinga Duda, who is a social advisor to the president, stressed that her views were her private business and she had no obligation of sharing them. "As a young woman, who one day may become a mother, I've decided to make an exception and express my standpoint" - she wrote. Next, she underscored that she could not "fully put herself in a situation of a pregnant woman, who finds out her baby is diagnosed with severe and irreversible damage or incurable disease putting its life at risk".

"I think, that in accordance with own personal beliefs, I would not decide to terminate pregnancy. I don't think, however, that other women should think and act the way I would. Every human has free will" - she said and stressed that the solution existing so far has offered choice. "Choice, not obligation. A woman could, but did not have to exercise this right" - she wrote.

"In a matter so unbelievably difficult as giving birth to a child that could die minutes or hours after being born, decision on whether to continue or terminate pregnancy should be left to a woman, and it should be taken according to her own conscience, her system of values, her own beliefs" - Kinga Duda underscored and explained that it's none other but this woman who "faces the consequences of her decision until the rest of her life".

"I've always considered the existing abortion compromise a reasonable solution" - Kinga Duda stressed. She argued that just as any other compromise "this one was not perfect as well, and it was not satisfactory neither for supporters of fully unrestricted abortion, nor for defenders of life". She also pointed out that for 27 years the said compromise "has been a restrained and acceptable for the majority of the society solution to the question of legal pregnancy termination".

"Therefore, I cannot agree with consequences the recent ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal brings" - Kinga Duda concluded. "I think that the MPs, responsible for lawmaking in Poland, should find, as soon as possible, a reasonable and compromise-based solution to the current situation, that would end the dispute sparked by the ruling" - wrote the president's daughter.