2021-03-10 15:31:07
Polish women look for ‘gray zone’ workarounds to tough new abortion rules
WARSAW — Poland’s abortion crackdown sparked mass protest rallies and weakened support for the ruling nationalist coalition. But it’s also spurring dozens of grassroots organizations to help women by providing information, advice and money to access the procedure.
The latest demonstrations took place on Monday evening — International Women’s Day.
“The abortion ban doesn’t mean a lack of abortions, only that it’s available only to the wealthy,” Marta Lempart, a leader of the Women’s Strike movement, told Polish television on Monday. “For people with less money, it’s difficult to obtain. Everything has shifted into the gray zone.”
While Poland has not been a good place to terminate a pregnancy since the end of communism three decades ago, the October ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal has made it nearly impossible by outlawing abortion even in the case of fetal abnormalities. But the ban, which went into effect in January, has also had a paradoxical effect: Women’s groups are pooling efforts to counter one of the most stringent abortion laws in Europe.
“The Polish state has hindered us and ignored us, basically telling us to self-organize,” said Karolina Więckiewicz of Abortion Dream Team, an NGO. “So that’s what we’re doing.”
Hours after the Constitutional Tribunal’s decision, Abortion Dream Team launched a crowdfunding effort. With three days, nearly 27,000 people chipped in a total of 1.6 million złoty (€350,000).
“We’ve funded for years to come,” Więckiewicz said. “We’re going to campaign, advise, and support. We’re going to print and publish online, and we’re going to meet people all over Poland.”
The Tribunal’s ruling and the mass protests that ensued contributed to dramatic spike in abortion awareness, said Mara Clarke, who founded the Abortion Support Network.
“In the first days after the Tribunal’s ruling, our helpline received 300 calls a day. We’d have 300 a month before,” said Clarke, whose non-profit helps women in EU countries and jurisdictions with tough abortion restrictions afford travel to more liberal states.
Clarke said that the number of women who need Abortion Support Network’s help has spiked since the ban’s announcement.
“In the first three quarters of last year, it was 40-60 people we helped. In October to December, it rose to 112, and since the start of January, it’s been 91,” she said, adding: “It really is about money for most. The cost of an abortion could range from €600 to €2,000, not including cost of travel, testing for COVID-19 and so on.”
The ruling has also dented the standing of Law and Justice (PiS), the main party in the ruling coalition; opinion polls show it wouldn’t retain it’s parliamentary majority in the event of a snap election.
There is also a shift in opinion on abortion. A recent poll by IBRiS showed that around 43 percent of Poles would welcome some liberalization of abortion laws, while just 12 percent approve of the status quo. Around 10 percent would like to see a blanket ban covering all abortions even in cases of rape, incest, or endangerment of a woman’s health — the current exemptions allowed in Polish law. That position dovetails with that of the powerful Roman Catholic Church, part of which is closely allied with the government.
The government insists that those exemptions are enough to accommodate the tough cases, and that it will move to provide more support to women giving birth to dying babies. “The verdict could not be different because of the Polish constitution,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters last month.
https://t.me/joinchat/S_cxMOL9_sGY5fJk
578 views12:31
P
