Poland

With Pope John Paul II due to visit his native country in June, Poland's Roman Catholic prelates busied themselves preparing a present for their Pontiff: strict antiabortion legislation that would ban the procedure completely, including cases stemming from rape and incest. The antiabortion bill, which the church lobbied for mightily in the Polish Sejm, or lower house of parliament, prescribed jail terms for doctors who performed abortions, even on women whose lives were endangered by pregnancy.

Given the predominance of Catholics in Poland -- 97% of the country's 38 million people -- the church had numbers and influence on its side, and a more moderate version of the bill had already passed the Senate. But when the time , came for a vote last week, the Sejm, lobbied by Solidarity veterans and former communists, postponed a decision. Instead, the lower house opted for a nonbinding resolution calling on the government to ban private abortions and decrying the country's high abortion rate. With a vote unlikely till after his visit, John Paul will have to settle for another gift.