WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's opposition lawmakers are demanding that a ruling party member stop working on new laws to curb sex abuse of minors after he allegedly tried to justify the actions of a priest convicted of pedophilia.

The conservative government has announced that the penalty for child sex abuse must be increased following recent revelations about church abuse. Parliament is debating the topic Wednesday.

Opposition lawmakers say prosecutor Stanislaw Piotrowicz, who is head of the parliament's justice commission, should be excluded from the parliamentary discussions because he allegedly tried to play down the actions of a priest who later was convicted and handed a suspended prison term for inappropriately touching and kissing small girls.