By Beth Leishman, Kate Collins and Georgia Harding

This month, G-You has collaborated with GSC (Glasgow Students for Choice) to compile a resource pack offering a comprehensive overview of the current fight against restrictive anti-abortion legislation in Poland. It also disucsses the impact the global pandemic is having on access to reroductive healthcare and outlines all the ways you can help pro-choice campaigners from the UK. This is a historical moment for Poland and has sparked significant conversations around Europe about abortion laws, women’s rights and the effect the coronavirus crisis is having on both. 

What is happening in Poland?

In the past five weeks, Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in major Polish cities to denounce the country’s Constitutional Tribunal ruling on October 22 which bans nearly all cases of abortion. Poland has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, with just three exceptions: when the mother’s life is in danger, in cases of rape or incest, or when there are severe and irreversible foetal defects. But this new law removes the third exception, banning abortion even in the case where the foetus is malformed, and the baby will die after birth. This new ruling would effectively end legal access to abortion, as third exception cases of severe foetal defects currently account for 98% of legal abortions carried out in Poland. In response to widespread public backlash, the government has delayed the ban, leaving women and doctors in limbo. The ruling, which will become law as soon as it is officially published, has prompted some of the largest protests across Poland since the fall of communism in 1989.

History of Abortion Rights in Poland

In a paper entitled The Struggle for Abortion Rights in Poland, Wanda Nowicka outlines the history of abortion legislation in Poland between 1932-2005 and seeks to explain the contemporary rise of right-wing, anti-abortion attitudes in Polish politics. Nowicka claims that the governement’s current position on abortion can be attributed in part to the fact that the almost 40 years of legal abortion under communism was based on instrumentalist and needs-based approaches rather than on the concept of rights, let alone women’s rights or human rights. The rights of women to autonomy or self-determination were not part of the reasoning behind this period of abortion liberalization. The pro-choice arguments used in abortion debates in the early 1990’s conform to the idea that abortion is always the avenue of last resort and the main reason it is adopted is because of economic hardship, reinforcing the patriarchal model of society where men are the protectors and women require protecting. The rights-based approach on the other hand, implies unconditional entitlement to abortion – a woman should have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, even if she does not choose to use that right. 

Nowicka explains that the atmosphere of political change and transition from the communist regime to Democracy in 1989 enabled the Catholic Church to present liberal abortion laws as a remnant of “godless” Communism. This led to the passing of the Anti-Abortion Law in 1993 which reversed the earlier, liberalizing abortion laws of 1956 and 1959, and resulted in the creation of "underground" abortion services and "abortion tourism." According to figures from the United Nations (which are disputed by the Polish Government), the restrictions introduced into Polish law throughout the 1990’s led to approximately 80,000-180,000 clandestine abortions every year.

The Church has been instrumental in fuelling anti-abortion rhetoric in Poland as it is a deeply Catholic country with a long history of conservative politicians utilising Church teaching to justify restritctive abortion laws. The government has portrayed abortion as an attack on traditional family life and even on the country’s faith. In a recent interview with the BBC, Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski defended the government’s position, stating that ‘This is a good fight, because we want human life to be protected...I’m sorry if anyone is offended by it but actually we will not be apologising for it.’ 

The latest attack on abortion rights in Poland has been spearheaded by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party who first came it power in 2005. Since then, the right-wing government have made frequent attempts to pass even stricter abortion rulings than the existing 1993 law, but have been unsuccessful. In 2015, PiS won the parliamentary election again, this time with an outright majority—something no Polish party had done since the fall of communism. But despite the country’s widespread conservativism, polls consistently demonstrate popular opposition to even stricter limits to abortion access and in 2016 an estimated 100,000 people, mostly women, protested to block an attempt to tighten the law. But with the enthusiastic blessing of the most influential Catholic church in Europe, the government decided to persevere, this time avoiding a debate in parliament and instead going through the Constitutional Tribunal, which it has been packing with loyal judges since 2015. Poland’s high court ruled in favour of a near-total ban on abortion on October 22 2020, but the government have delayed publishing the ban in the wake of unprecedented resistance.

Women’s Strike and Mass Protests

In response to this ruling, hundreds of thousands of Poles - many of them young women - have taken to the streets in protest, defying Covid regulations and prompting the government to delay the ban. Since they led the first marches in 2016, the movement Strajk Kobiet (Women's Strike) has worked relentlessly to stop the various initiatives proposing an almost complete ban on abortion in Poland. Their logo of a red lightning bolt has become the main symbol of the protests, representing a warning to anyone seeking to restrict women’s rights. Another prominent slogan of the current protests has been “Wypierdalać”, a vulgarity that translates roughly as “F#@* off”. One University of Glasgow student who wishes to remain anonymous spoke to us about the campaigners, explaining how many people ‘are offended by the vulgarity of some of the protests’, but they feel the emotive language is qualified as it ‘demonstrates that the matter is a fundamental issue in Polish society.’

Most of the protests have been aimed at the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and the Catholic Church who are seen to be responsible for orchestrating the new ruling passed by the Constitutional Tribunal. Some women have staged demonstrations in churches, dressed in the iconic red and white handmaiden costumes from Margaret Attwood’s novel which have become widely utilised by women’s rights protesters in recent years. The Canadian author’s 1985 book The Handmaid’s Tale imagines a dystopian, near-future state where fertile women, known as “handmaidens”, are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "commanders" – the ruling class of men. 

Despite facing violent backlash from far-right groups and football hooligans, as well as physical force and pepper spray by authorities, the mass protests have continued and remain some of the largest Poland has seen since the fall of communism. 

How has the pandemic affected global access to reproductive healthcare?

In a parallel to how the Catholic church in Poland capitalized on the political turbulence of the early 1990’s to enforce their anti-abortion agenda, the Polish government have been accused by opposition groups of using the distraction of the coronavirus pandemic to push through this recent anti-choice legislation. Even though the government’s hope of avoiding a repeat of mass protests as seen in 2016 on account of the ban on public gatherings was clearly ill-founded, it is significant that this abortion ban is timed with the pandemic and raises wider questions about the impact Covid-19 has had on reproductive healthcare access.

The travel restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic have severely impacted people’s access to abortion services, particularly in Northern Ireland. Despite the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland in October 2019, Northern Ireland’s health department missed its original April 2020 deadline for providing regulations that offer solid access to abortion care, causing widespread panic to women seeking abortions, as the option of travelling to England for the procedure was no longer viable due to lockdown measures. Many disbelieve the government’s excuse that the missed deadline was on account of the coronovirus crisis, instead blaming anti-choice sentiment for slowing down the implementation of abortion services. 

In a recent journal article, the pro-choice activist Liza Caruana-Finkel argues that that sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are always affected in times of crisis, and that ‘the current COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed SRHR inequalities’. Finkel explains how this is particularly true in her home country of Malta, a Southern European country which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws worldwide; it is the only EU country and the only Commonwealth country with a total legal ban. COVID-19 has highlighted the problems of a system in which pregnant people secretly travel for abortions abroad or secretly order abortion pills online, often from unverified and potentially dangerous online sources. Finkel also explains how the Maltese government’s failure to stock up on oral contraceptive pills to prevent shortages during the pandemic as they were not listed as essential, coupled with the spike in domestic sexual violence, has led to an increase in unwanted pregnancies. 

It is also important to look beyond Europe. With individuals living in Europe and North America (35 per 1,000) at a significantly lower chance of having an unplanned pregnancy than individuals living in sub-Saharan Africa (91 per 1,000), the importance of a global approach is evident. Whilst the global rates of unplanned pregnancies have declined from 79 per 1,000 of individuals aged 15-49 in 1990 to 64 across 2019, this dedicated effort in-part of increased contraceptive access may be easily undone as COVID-19 restrictions further hamper healthcare provisions. Zara Ahmed, an employee of the Guttmacher Institute responsible for the study, attributed the damage to ‘challenges with the supply chain, diversion of providers to the response and lack of access to health facilities during lockdown’. Ahmed predicts that just a 10% decline across the aforementioned services in low-income countries could result in 3 million further unsafe abortions. 

One positive effect the pandemic has had on access to abortions is the introduction of telemedicide. During the first COVID-19 lockdown across the UK, when hospital access was highly restricted, telemedicine was introduced to enable medical abortions to be carried out safely at home. After a telephone consultation with a medical professional in place of an in-person assessment, two drugs are then posted to the individual, with a success rate of 97.7%. There are a number of positives to the scheme beyond its obvious ability to reduce unnecessary exposure and travel, for instance improving medical access to those in more compromising home situations by providing a discrete alternative to a clinic. Demographics often detached and overlooked are also better able to receive healthcare without fear of prejudice or consequence, trans-men and non-binary individuals in particular are often emitted from such discussions when gendered language is so frequent. Although providing remote healthcare does not eliminate issues, it does afford a novel access route. In this instance, telemedicine is one outcome of the pandemic that has improved rather than impeded access to abortion services as it deconstructs the common barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare.  

How can we help from the UK?

The restrictions on abortion do not take away the demand for abortion. Abortion context here in the UK is vitally connected to what’s happening in Poland, as the forces of action in Poland will result in more people travelling abroad to access abortion services. England is a destination country for many people travelling for these reasons and has become a key abortion provider for lots of countries in Europe. One way we can help ensure safe abortions are available for all is to lobby the UK government to make reproductive healthcare easier, cheaper, more accessible, and to not lower the gestational limit. Any lobbying that we can do to make the situation better here for those travelling for an abortion will have a positive impact on individuals from countries with stricter abortion laws like Poland. In addition, supporting and donating to charities that provide support and advice on travelling for abortion, financial assistance, and, where needed and where possible, accommodation such as Abortion Without Borders and Abortion Support Network is an easy but vital way to help. There has been a huge increase of people contacting Abortion Support Network since the Polish court ruling. 

Another way you can help as a student from the UK is to demand better provisions for students on the subject of reproductive healthcare. The University of Glasgow was recently named Times Higher Education’s University of the Year, with THE stating “at a time when universities are too often on the back foot in public debates about value and relevance, Glasgow stood out as a shining examples of what a university should be: institutions of courage and action, uniquely places to tackle the biggest issues facing the world”. Holding this in mind, faculty at UofG have all too often neglected to address student welfare in policy, especially access to reproductive healthcare. Beyond rejected Good Cause claims identified in Glasgow Student's for Choice survey conducted earlier in the semester, the University fail to provide signposting and informative resources for students requiring an abortion. This must change. Through responses to the survey, it was clear that even local students with wider support networks unnecessarily struggled to find clinics and support, and received minimal university support, if any at all. International students are at a greater loss, already unfamiliar with the NHS with a further compromised support network. It is imperative, then, that the university provides clear and helpful advice, aiding those students unable to travel home where abortion access may be restricted or totally unavailable.

We must not allow institutions to hide behind the excuse of remaining politically unbiased, as reproductive health care is not something up for debate, but a human right. We cannot allow our bodies to be politicised. It is important to pressure the university to live up to the accolades they they have been awarded, to engage in public debates, tackle discrimination, and address neglected student welfare. At a university with four independent student unions, all equally responsible for student welfare, all of them must take responsibility to provide informative signposting on their platforms. This may be achieved through contacting the unions directly and raising awareness of this information gap.

One of the best ways to help is to be informed and then share that knowledge. GSC recently had an event about abortion in Poland with Dr Sydney Calkin, a lecturer in Geography at Queen Mary University of London, who is currently working on a project about the geographies of cross-border abortion access, pro-choice activism and state reproductive control. She recommended a list of books about abortion and abortion control including: Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America, The Politics of Morality: The Church, the State, and Reproductive Rights in Postsocialist Poland and After Repeal: Rethinking Abortion Politics (the full list is on GSC’s facebook and insta bio). 

Further Reading:

Abortion during the Covid-19 Pandemic — Ensuring Access to an Essential Health Service

UK abortion law briefly changes during Covid-19 outbreak

Women struggle to access aboriton as COVID-19 adds to hurdles in Europe

How coronavirus is changing access to aboriton

When COVID-19 Becomes a Political Ally: Poland’s Law on Abortion

Right Power: Slovakia Mulls New Laws Limiting Abortion

How Anti-Abortion Activists Are Taking Advantage of the Coronavirus Crisis

Glasgow Students for Choice Resources 

Petitions:

• Urge the Polish government to reconsider its approach to abortion - Petitions (parliament.uk)

• Avaaz - Największa petycja w obronie Polek!

• Hands off our reproductive rights (womensequality.org.uk)

How to support and get involved with the work of GSC 

GSC has weekly events including talks with academics, craft events and a monthly book club. To get involved, check out the Facebook page for events, and suggestions for events/speakers are always welcome! We also fundraise for Abortion Support Network predominatley through the sale of crafts. Designing and creating something for sale is a great way to express your creativity and support the vital work of Abortion Support Network. 

They have been petitioning the Scottish Government to implement 150m buffer-zones outside places that provide abortion services. As a grassroots campaign, volunteering to help the campaign grow is the best way to offer your support. Check out the instagram bio @backoffscotland to find more information about how to support the campaign and get involved.