What is happening in Poland?
Global Politics
On Friday, 30th October, a hundred thousand women and men marched the streets of Warsaw, Poland against the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), led by Jaroslaw Kaczyński, in a pro-choice protest against a court ruling.
What was the court ruling?
On 22nd October, abortions against foetal defects (such as Down’s Syndrome) were deemed illegal by a court ruling. Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that an existing law allowing abortions of malformed foetuses was unconstitutional.
According to the Tribunal, permitting abortions in the case of foetal deformities legalised “eugenic practices with regard to an unborn child, thus denying it the respect and protection of human dignity.”
What does this mean?
The current laws around abortion were already very strict in Poland. Fewer than 2,000 legal abortions are carried out in Poland every year, most of which are due to foetal defects.
This court ruling effectively bans legal abortions in Poland. This means that abortion in Poland would only be legal in two scenarios: if the pregnancy threatened the mother's life and health, or if a woman became pregnant following rape or incest.
The Symbolism
Many women are carrying signs made of red lightning bolts, which is the symbol of pro-choice in Poland. One group of women donned long red dresses and white bonnets meant to evoke the subjugated women as in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale.
In 2016, thousands of women went on strike in protest against a proposal for a complete ban on abortions. They all dressed in black to signify that they were mourning the death of their reproductive rights.
The Amendment
In an apparent softening of his stance, Polish President Andrzej Duda on Friday submitted a draft amendment to the controversial law which would legalize abortion in situations where the baby has "lethal defects" and would die soon after birth.
Women’s rights groups have said that an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 Polish women either go abroad or seek illegal abortions every year due to the country’s strict abortion laws.
The ban on abortion is essentially a ban on legal abortion. A number of unsafe abortions occur, and will continue to occur in the medical black market, affordable by the rich and out of reach of the poor.
