Overview
- Parliamentary speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said the new Civil Code draft preserves the current legal status for LGBT people and reflects a compromise approach.
- The bill cleared its first reading on April 28 after a swift three‑week path from registration, with protests, European Commission review, and an amendment window open until May 19.
- The draft introduces a broad moral test called “dobrozvichainist” (the European concept of boni mores), which rights groups say could let judges use vague ethics to restrict clear legal protections.
- Critics also object to family and health rules that could force reconciliation in some divorce cases, define marriage only as between a man and a woman, and reframe abortion as a consent procedure.
- Media lawyers warn new rights to reply, to be forgotten, and to “informational peace” could spur lawsuits that pressure outlets to change or remove reporting in the public interest.