Poland rejects 'pro-abortion pressure'

Politicians in Poland have reacted angrily to a vote by the European Parliament calling for abortion to be legalised across current and future EU member states.

The Parliament's resolution, which is non-binding, says women should have easy access to contraception and sex education, and no-one should be prosecuted for having an abortion.

It singles out largely Roman Catholic Poland and Ireland as the two countries where abortion is most severely restricted.

But the Polish parliament's European affairs committee rejected what it called pro-abortion pressure on candidate countries.

Abortion was legal in Poland until five years ago, when the then right-wing government banned it in most circumstances.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service