Polish government doesn't have votes to liberalise strict abortion law, says PM Donald Tusk

Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk has acknowledged that he does not have the support in parliament necessary to change the country's abortion law, which is among the most restrictive in Europe.

Centrist Tusk took power in December at the head of a coalition that spans a broad ideological divide, with lawmakers on the left who want to legalise abortion and conservatives strongly opposed.

Changing the law to allow abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy was one of his campaign promises.

"There will be no majority in this parliament for legal abortion, in the full sense of the word, until the next elections. Let’s not kid ourselves," Tusk said during an event on Friday where he was asked about the matter.

Lawmakers in the Sejm, Poland's parliament, were elected last October for a term of four years.

Tusk said his government is instead working on establishing new procedures in the prosecutor’s office and in Polish hospitals in order to ease some of the de facto restrictions.

"This is already underway and it will be very noticeable," Tusk said.

Poland is a majority Roman Catholic country where the church maintains a strong position. But the central European nation of 38 million people is also undergoing rapid secularisation, going hand-in-hand with growing wealth.

Abortion is viewed as a fundamental issue for many voters, and a source of deep social and political divisions.

Under the current law, abortion is only allowed in the cases of rape or incest or if the woman's life or health is at risk.

A new restriction took effect under the previous conservative government removing a previous right to abortion in the case of fetal deformities, a move that sparked massive street protests.

Women often cannot obtain abortions even in