Polish president opposes abortion reform

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski says he opposes any changes to his country's strict anti-abortion law.

Mr Kwasniewski spoke in response to a proposal by a leader of the governing Social Democratic Party, the SLD, to hold a referendum on the law.

Currently, it allows access to abortion only to women who have been raped or whose life is endangered by their pregnancy.

During the last general election in Poland in 2001, the SLD, which was once headed by Mr Kwasniewski, promised to liberalise the abortion law.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service