Anna Záborská (source: SITA)
Slovakia has never had as many conservative MPs as it now has in the current parliament. For some, including in the ruling OLaNO party, this has been a cause for concern and women's rights activists have warned that there might be changes towards making the abortion legislation stricter.
The issue of abortion was debated by the previous parliament last year. In the autumn of 2019, it rejected or partly rejected four proposals to limit abortions in Slovakia by law: one by the far-right ĽSNS, one by then Sme Rodina MP and now Labour Minister Milan Krajniak, one by then and current OĽaNO MP Richard Vašečka and one by then OĽaNO MP and now Health Minister Marek Krajčí.
"Despite the number of declaratory Christians in parliament, we have been unable to change the abortion law in 30 years," MP Anna Záborská, who leads the Christian Union (part of the OĽaNO) caucus, wrote on Facebook in mid-May. "Will we manage to do it now? Will there be enough Christians in parliament? It is my hope it will be so. We need to go step by step."
One month later, Záborská came up with legislation that she claims would bring no ban or radical limits to abortions. At the same time, she said, as reported by Denník N, that these are "not, by any means all the measures that could help women".
Women's rights organisations have announced a protest gathering on July 7. The non-governmental organisation Aspekt wrote on its Facebook page that the law was about control rather than support.
