Politicians in Poland have voted to move forward with draft legislation aimed at lifting the country’s near-total ban on abortion, in what campaigners described as a crucial first step towards loosening some of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, Ednews reports via The Guardian.

MPs in Poland’s lower house of parliament voted to send four bills on abortion for further study by a parliamentary committee, including two that propose legalising abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy.

The long-awaited vote on Friday came followed a six-hour debate on Thursday, during which the deep divisions in Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition over abortion access were laid bare.

Reaction to the vote was swift. “This is a historic moment,” said Kamila Ferenc of the Federation for Women and Family Planning. “For the first time since 1996, projects liberalising and decriminalising abortion have been sent to a second reading in parliamentary committee.”

Her organisation had long worked towards this outcome, meeting MPs, educating them and speaking out about the need to change the law, she said. But Friday’s vote was just the beginning of what was likely to be a long legislative journey, she added. “We have a lot of work to do in the future.”

The sentiment was echoed by Marta Lempart, the founder of the All-Poland Women’s Strike, a rights movement that has led the nationwide mass protests against the country’s abortion laws. “It will take time, but that’s fine,” she said.

“We look forward to the start of solid, concrete, substantive work on the legalisation bills, work that take into account the current reality of abortion including the work of abortion activists in Poland.”

Amnesty International described the vote as a “significant step towards ending Poland’s cruel and draconian restrictions” on abortion. Now, as the draft bills move forward, Miko Czerwiński of the organisation said in a statement that it was “crucial that politicians listen to the voices of civil society and those people directly affected by the near-total ban on abortion” in order to bring the country’s laws in line with international human rights standards.

The youth-led WSCHÓD Initiative highlighted the fact that a bill aimed at decriminalising abortion assistance was among those that had made it through the vote. “It is a chance that the state will stop prosecuting partners, activists, mothers and sisters of those in need of abortion,” said Wiktoria Jędroszkowiak of the organisation in a statement. The hope was that the legislation could be approved by parliament by June, given that it requires the removal of only one line from the country’s penal code, added Jędroszkowiak. “No one should be pursued when helping those in need.”

Several lawmakers in the country were among those who celebrated the outcome. “Today is a very happy day for Polish women!” Małgorzata Tracz of the Greens said on social media, while Krystyna Szumilas of Tusk’s Civic Coalition described the vote as a “step towards ensuring women’s safety”.

Poland, long home to some of the EU’s strictest abortion laws, further curtailed women’s rights under the previous rightwing populist government and a 2020 constitutional ruling that barred abortion in the case of foetal abnormalities.

The crackdown was linked to the deaths of at least six women as some doctors prioritise saving foetuses – either for ideological reasons or in an attempt to avoid legal consequences – in what Human Rights Watch described last year as a “climate of fear that has heightened risks for women and girls”.

In the lead up to the vote, members of the country’s coalition government, which includes Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition, the Left and the conservative Third Way, agreed on the necessity of reversing the 2020 ruling.