(2024 - now)
Poland has the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in Europe, second only to Malta. Termination of pregnancy is only permitted in cases of rape and when the woman’s life is in immediate danger. Unfortunately, these two cases rarely occur in practice because it is very difficult to prove rape in Poland. Since the Constitutional Tribunal declared abortion due to severe fetal defects unconstitutional in 2020, several women have died in hospitals despite being at risk. Because of this new provision in the constitution, doctors wait for the fetus to die before saving the woman’s life. Helping with an abortion in Poland can result in up to three years in prison.
For 31 years, I have lived in a reality where abortion is illegal and stigmatized, women are marginalized, and women’s rights are violated daily. With the enactment of the 1993 Act on Family Planning, Protection of the Human Fetus, and Conditions for Permissible Termination of Pregnancy, the reality for women dramatically changed, and since then, we have been fighting for the right to our own lives and bodies. This right was taken away from us in 1989 when communism fell in Poland, and the Catholic Church was allowed to take control, dominating our reproductive rights. Before 1989, abortion was legal on demand according to the 1956 law on the conditions for legal abortion.
Today, just like our great-grandmothers after World War II, we are fighting for the right to legal, safe, and free abortion. Meanwhile, every day, with the help of Women Without Borders, 130 women in Poland terminate their pregnancies with pills, and dozens travel abroad for the procedure.
Poland has the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in Europe, second only to Malta. Termination of pregnancy is only permitted in cases of rape and when the woman’s life is in immediate danger. Unfortunately, these two cases rarely occur in practice because it is very difficult to prove rape in Poland. Since the Constitutional Tribunal declared abortion due to severe fetal defects unconstitutional in 2020, several women have died in hospitals despite being at risk. Because of this new provision in the constitution, doctors wait for the fetus to die before saving the woman’s life. Helping with an abortion in Poland can result in up to three years in prison.
For 31 years, I have lived in a reality where abortion is illegal and stigmatized, women are marginalized, and women’s rights are violated daily. With the enactment of the 1993 Act on Family Planning, Protection of the Human Fetus, and Conditions for Permissible Termination of Pregnancy, the reality for women dramatically changed, and since then, we have been fighting for the right to our own lives and bodies. This right was taken away from us in 1989 when communism fell in Poland, and the Catholic Church was allowed to take control, dominating our reproductive rights. Before 1989, abortion was legal on demand according to the 1956 law on the conditions for legal abortion.
Today, just like our great-grandmothers after World War II, we are fighting for the right to legal, safe, and free abortion. Meanwhile, every day, with the help of Women Without Borders, 130 women in Poland terminate their pregnancies with pills, and dozens travel abroad for the procedure.
