Poland’s Tusk hits a wall on legalizing abortion

Failure of abortion vote raises big questions of whether Tusk can deliver the key social reforms he promised in last year’s election.

Donald Tusk is facing his most severe political setback since becoming Polish prime minister as he hits a brick wall on one of his biggest campaign promises: Increasing access to abortion.

Tusk and his coalition partners pulled off a surprisingly convincing election win in October on the back of pledges to restore the rule of law and push through liberalizing reforms, such as allowing same-sex partnerships and overturning the country’s draconian anti-abortion regulations.

On July 12, however, Tusk suffered what looks like an ominous defeat when a parliamentary vote to stop prosecuting people who assist with abortions failed — by a wafer-thin 218-to-215 margin — because of conservatives within his ruling coalition.