WARSAW — Poland’s lower house of parliament approved two bills Tuesday that would loosen the country’s strict abortion rules, opening a new political fight with President Karol Nawrocki, who has said he would block legislation easing the restrictions. The Sejm voted 217-213, with three abstentions, to decriminalize helping or encouraging an abortion outside the grounds currently permitted by law. A second bill, approved 233-203 with one abstention, would restore abortion access in cases of severe, irreversible fetal abnormalities or incurable conditions threatening a fetus’s viability. The proposals must still pass the Senate, where they appear likely to win approval. Nawrocki, an ally of the nationalist Law and Justice party, has pledged not to sign bills loosening abortion rules. The governing coalition does not have the three-fifths majority required in the Sejm to override a presidential veto. The first measure would remove a crime that currently carries a potential prison sentence of up to three years for people who assist an abortion performed outside legal grounds. It would also protect doctors, nurses and midwives from prosecution when ending a pregnancy because of a threat to the woman’s life or health, or strong indications of a serious and irreversible fetal condition. The second bill would also require hospitals to provide abortions permitted by law within set deadlines and give written explanations when they refuse. Neither proposal would legalize abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a pledge made by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition during the 2023 election campaign but opposed by some members of its broader governing alliance. “The state trusts women,” government equality commissioner Katarzyna Kotula said on X, arguing that people who support women’s decisions should not face punishment. Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty said before the votes that a presidential refusal to sign the bills would hurt women. The changes fall short of what some women’s rights groups have sought. Legalna Aborcja, an advocacy organization, said the proposals would not help women who need abortions now. Education Minister Barbara Nowacka called the measures incremental but said she would support any change bringing women closer to greater control over their lives. Polish law currently permits abortion when a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life or health, or results from a criminal act such as rape or incest. In 2020, the Constitutional Tribunal struck down an additional exception for severe fetal abnormalities. The ruling took effect in January 2021 and triggered large street protests. Reversing the restrictions became a major campaign issue for Tusk’s pro-European coalition, which took office nearly three years ago. But its governing agreement with the more conservative Polish People’s Party and Poland 2050 did not include a commitment to legalize abortion on request, and some lawmakers from those parties opposed Tuesday’s bills. The proposals had spent two years in a parliamentary committee before returning to the chamber, with Poland’s next general election scheduled for late 2027. Their passage gives Tusk’s coalition a visible legislative victory, but whether the changes become law will depend on the Senate and a president who has already signaled his opposition.