On the 22nd of October, the Constitutional Court of Poland has ruled against the abortion law. The right to abortion for fetal abnormalities was declared unconstitutional, because it violates the right to life established by the Polish Constitution. Before this ruling, the termination of pregnancy was permitted in three scenarios: for fetal abnormalities, in the case of a threat to a woman’s health, and in the case of incest or rape. This decision has proved to be very hard on Polish women because the Polish law on abortion was already one of the strictest in Europe and this latest ruling cuts out one of the main reasons why Polish women are allowed to get an abortion. It should be noted, however, that this decision effectively represents almost a TOTAL BAN on abortion, given that the majority of legal abortios results from fetal abnormalities.
Polish women have reacted immediately and violently to this attempt to restrain their freedom, making that Thursday the beginning of one of the strongest strikes after the fall of Communism. This protest movement is called Straik kobiet (Women’s Strike) and it released a manifesto: they ask for a truthful Constitutional Court, a secular state (restricting the current role of the Catholic church), and resignation of the government. Tens of thousands of people have been marching in Poland since that moment, blocking major roads of the country and holding anti-government slogans. Demonstrators have even vandalized churches, which is pretty unusual, given the influential role played by the Catholic church in this country. This protest represents the great and deep frustration caused by the decision of the government to tighten and almost abolish one of the rights women have hardly fought for. However, not only the Polish women joined the protests, but also other layers of Polish society such as taxi drivers, farmers and coal miners, unsatisfied with the ruling Law and Justice party. This can undoubtely be defined as a nationwide strike: protests erupted all over Poland and they have turned into an expression of general discontent to a strict right-wing government, whose actions people are often accusing of hijacking the judiciary and undermining the achievements of post-communist era.
Such big and violent protests have not been witnessed since the Solidarity movement in the 1980s that led to the collapse of Communism. Demonstrators are using violent slogans and making violent acts because they want to shock people and send a crystal clear message. They are breaking taboos and actively challenging the role of the Church.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this right-wing government, which has been in power since 2015, has tried to tighten the law on abortion. It happened respectively in 2016 and 2018, and each time it was followed by mass protests. Besides, in every attempt to make the law stricter the Law and Justice party could not muster the vote in Parliament, which is probably why this last time they appealed straight to the Constitutional Court, which is notoriously favourable to them and whose decision is, in fact, unquestionable. The Tribunal declared that abortion in the case of fetus malformation violates the principle of protecting life at any cost belonging to the Polish Constitution, and this clearly plays in favour of the Law and Justice party strategy.
Many are speculating behind the timing of the move made by the Law and Justice party. Some people are saying the party chose to pass the legislation during this historical moment hoping people’s reactions would be weakened by the Covid-19 measures or by the fear of getting infected. This is clearly not working and despite the pandemic situation, thousands of people are engaging in protests throughout Poland. Others claim the Law and Justice party acted now because elections are not due for three years. Women argue they are being used as pawns in order to distract people from the inefficient handling of the emergency situation: Poland is one of the hardest-hit countries with consequent overloading of the health care system.
Despite the reasons that might be behind their actions, one thing is for sure: the conduct exhibited by the ruling party of Poland is not showing any kind of adherence to European values; on the contrary, it only demonstrates how the party sees itself as a defender of traditional, conservative and patriarchal Catholic values. Within their vision Polish women are only wives and mothers and any step forward increasing their rights is regarded as liberal and dangerous and in favour of western propaganda. This concern for western propaganda within a European country is disorienting, this lack of acknowledgment of women’s rights within a country that is really moving forward in many aspects arises many unsolved questions. Almost every European country has abortion on demand, up to a certain point in pregnancy. Why Poland doesn’t? Is it due to their Catholic heritage? Italy has the most ancient Catholic tradition and abortion on demand.
There are some aspects I would like to explore further in the attempt of asnwering these questions. As it was mentioned before, the great majority of legal abortions are done because of abnormalities of the fetus (the scenario that has been cut off by the new ruling), and there are different reasons behind that. First of all, women who give birth to a disabled child in Poland do not receive enough financial and psychological support from the state. Secondly, doctors in Poland can refuse to perform a legal abortion and may also refuse to prescribe contraception on religious grounds, making it impossible for women to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies. Lastly, an appealing small percentage of women is reporting sexual abuse in Poland, so that the scenario described by the law before the last ruling, in which a woman who gets pregnant after a sexual abuse can obtain an abortion, almost never presents itself.
What is going to happen in Poland? After more than a month the protest is still not dying down, people are showing no sign of giving up. Police forces have been repressing demonstrations violently; the ruling of the Constitutional Court is still on hold because of the protests. Poland stands in this athmosphere of troubling uncertainty: if the ruling were to pass the number of women engaging in illegal and underground abortions would highly increase (putting at great risk their health), as well as the number of those women who can afford to travel to foreign countries to access abortion care; public opinion would be greatly affected.
As Hillary Margolis, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch said “Ensuring women’s human rights, including their reproductive rights, is essential to upholding E.U. values. […] Poland’s flagrant disregard for these values is dangerous not only for women and girls in Poland, but throughout Europe.” It is clear, however, that the ruling party is not concerned by this. What are they aiming to achieve? A conservative Catholic country as the one they are trying to become finds no place within the European landscape.
Marta Nicastro
