Buscador avanzado

In Poland, Testing Women for Abortion Drugs Is a Reality. It Could Happen Here.

Nearly three years ago, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal effectively ended legal abortion in the country. Since then, the Polish government has vigorously repressed the nation’s reproductive rights movement and ramped up surveillance of women who are suspected of terminating their pregnancies. Authorities have violently dispersed demonstrations, threatened activists with prison time and ordered doctors to record all pregnancies in a new national database.

Even before Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, Poland’s draconian crackdown, which was spearheaded by the governing right-wing Law and Justice party, should have been alarming to American supporters of abortion rights. It was always possible that some aspects of what has happened there could happen here.…  Seguir leyendo »

El pasado 3 de junio entró en vigor en Polonia una medida que amplía la cantidad de información que el sistema sanitario polaco mantendrá en su base de datos sobre sus pacientes, incluyendo un registro de embarazos, además de otros datos médicos que pueden dar información sobre el estilo de vida de las mujeres embarazadas. Esto quiere decir que el Estado podrá utilizar estos datos para rastrear a las mujeres que no hayan finalizado su embarazo.

Las mujeres polacas embarazadas dejan así de ser ciudadanas libres y autónomas, y, como las criadas de la famosa novela de Margaret Atwood, se convierten en medios para otros fines.…  Seguir leyendo »

People place candles in Warsaw last November in tribute to a woman who died in the 22nd week of pregnancy. (Czarek Sokolowski/AP)

Last month, the death of a Polish woman known as “Agnieszka T”. inflamed public debate about Poland’s abortion law. She died a month after doctors delayed aborting twin fetuses, which had separately died in utero over the course of a week. Her family blames Poland’s current abortion law for her death. Another woman, Izabela, died under similar circumstances last September. Their deaths may be spurring protests in support of abortion access. In my research, I have spoken to activists to understand what drives them to protest.

What is the current abortion law in Poland?

Since a 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling, Polish doctors can only perform abortions in cases of rape, incest or if the patient’s health is endangered.…  Seguir leyendo »

Lors d'une manifestation en faveur du droit à l'avortement, à Cracovie samedi. Photo Artur Widak. NurPhoto. AFP

Le 22 octobre à 16 heures, la Cour constitutionnelle polonaise rendait un arrêt déclarant contraire à la Constitution l’un des rares motifs autorisant encore une interruption volontaire de grossesse dans le pays, à savoir une «malformation grave et irréversible» du fœtus ou une «maladie incurable ou potentiellement mortelle». Parachevant le processus initié au début de la transition post-communiste, qui vit les Polonaises progressivement privées du droit à l’IVG qui leur avait été octroyé dès les années 50, cet arrêt devait couronner la révolution conservatrice entamée en 2015 lors du retour aux affaires du parti Droit et Justice (PiS) de Jaroslaw Kaczynski.…  Seguir leyendo »

A protest against the constitutional court ruling on abortion in Warsaw last week. Photograph: Tomasz Jastrzębowski/Reporter/Rex/Shutterstock

Last month, Poland’s top court ruled it unconstitutional to have an abortion on the grounds of a foetal defect. In a country in which abortion was already highly restricted, this all but banned the procedure – 98% of all abortions in Poland are because of foetal abnormalities.

In 2016, when the governing rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS) attempted to push similar anti-abortion legislation through parliament, it was forced to back down in the face of mass protests and a national women’s strike. So this time, the PiS government chose the judicial route, having already packed the constitutional court with conservative judges.…  Seguir leyendo »

Demonstrators protest against a court ruling on tightening Poland's abortion law, on Friday in Warsaw. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

I saw a young woman screaming in a priest’s face today and something in me changed. The priest must have just gotten outside of his church to tell people to disperse, and she was standing there among a group of other young protesters, mainly women. They were holding simple signs and yelling loudly at him, a large man in his 50s, his posture hidden by a long black cassock. I have never screamed at a priest myself, but I found the image impressive, oddly compelling.

I saw this image on video. It was one among the flood of moving and still images populating my social media feed in since the Polish Constitutional Tribunal —equivalent of the U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

Angered women’s rights activists and their supporters confront police and a far-right group on the fifth day of their nationwide protests against a recent court ruling that tightened Poland’s restrictive abortion law in Warsaw on Monday. (Czarek Sokolowski/AP)

Widespread protests have roiled Poland since Thursday, after the government imposed tighter restrictions on abortion. Hundreds of thousands are marching through streets, blocking traffic, holding sit-ins in churches, and amassing in front of the residences of high-ranking clergy. Protesters have called for a nationwide strike on Wednesday.

Here’s what sparked the protests. The conservative populist government of the Law and Justice (PiS) party eliminated grave fetal defects as a justification for obtaining an abortion. These cases constitute 98 percent of legal abortions in Poland.

Poland has severe restrictions on abortion

Since 1993, Poland’s restrictive abortion law allowed for abortions in three circumstances: rape or incest, grave fetal defects or threat to the life of the mother.…  Seguir leyendo »

Jarosław Kaczyński y Donald Trump son dos políticos que este año escandalizaron al mundo con sus dichos y actos, y salieron en gran medida impunes. Pero eso está por acabarse.

Cuando el año pasado el partido Ley y Justicia de Kaczyński llegó al poder, inmediatamente se hizo con el control de las principales instituciones polacas, entre ellas el Tribunal Constitucional, la fiscalía del Estado, empresas y medios de prensa públicos e incluso las caballerizas estatales. Como el gobierno de Ley y Justicia heredó una economía sana y una fuerte posición fiscal, Kaczyński no vio necesidad de contar con un ministro de finanzas, así que hace poco eliminó el cargo.…  Seguir leyendo »

Religious ‘pro-family’ groups get more government support in Hungary and Poland. Kacper Pempel/Reuters.

In the women’s movement in Central Europe, there are few moments to celebrate. Polish women successfully preventing a total ban on abortion from coming into law recently was one of them.

While we may praise the success of Polish women’s “black protest” – where women across the country went on strike and dressed in black to mourn the loss of their reproductive rights – one troubling question remains unanswered.

Why did an EU member state even consider forcing women to carry deformed fetuses and imprisoning doctors for terminating pregnancies?

The popular view voiced by the Polish opposition – that the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) wants to bring back the Middle Ages – is insufficient.…  Seguir leyendo »

Manifestation en faveur du droit à l'avortement, à Varsovie, en Pologne, lundi. Photo Janek Skarzynski. AFP

Dans tout le pays, des femmes ont fait la grève et se sont vêtues de noir, en signe de deuil pour leurs droits menacés. Il y a lieu de se réjouir que ce « lundi noir » ait porté ses fruits. Cependant, une question troublante reste en suspens. Comment est-il possible qu’un pays membre de l’UE puisse songer à forcer des femmes à porter des enfants malformés ou à emprisonner les médecins qui pratiquent l’avortement ?

En guise de réponse, l’opposition polonaise clame que le parti au pouvoir, PiS, veut revenir au Moyen Age. Une théorie populaire mais peu satisfaisante, qui repose sur le mythe d’une histoire de la libération des femmes faite de contrecoups politiques, où les progrès constants vers l’égalité des sexes seraient interrompus par des embûches qu’il faudrait surmonter par l’action commune.…  Seguir leyendo »