Polish women fighting back against abortion laws

[DancelikeEmmaGoldman]

It’s encouraging to see the protests.

“Tens of thousands of Poles have been marching for almost a week to protest a new high court ruling that imposes a near-total ban on abortion, blocking major roads and bridges and chanting anti-government slogans.

The demonstrators, some dressed as characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” have even disrupted masses and vandalized churches — a rare case of lashing out at the government’s ally, the Catholic Church, in the staunchly Catholic country.”

www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/world/europe/poland-abortion-ruling-protests.html

If Court Supreme decided , that abortions , when fetus is disformed, are illegal, this decision is final. No law in Poland can be against Constitution. The only way now is to change Constitution. It may only happen by act of Parliament . But current Goverment is very far right and President is also known of his right believes - although he didn’t comment yet on Supreme Court decision . I understand anger, but this is not the way to go. People should demand change of law, instead shouting vulgar words. Sad situation.
Out of interest I checked , how much it cost to go to have an abortion in Czechs. Roughly £500-600. Given fact average wage in Poland is now about £800, it’s a lot, but not out of reach most of Polish women.

How has it gone so far backwards?

This thread suggests that the Polish government are using a culture war to distract from their other failings.

twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1320257849281417216

At the time when we holidayed in Poland, when I was a child, women travelled to Poland - from countries where abortion wasn't legal - to access abortions there. And 40 years later, it's Polish women forced to do this. I mean what the actual fuck!

I think this demonstrates why we can't take our rights for granted.

However, they are into gender neutral terminology - a strange concept given who they are working towards helping.
Strange is a kind way of putting it. Reading their homepage with all the talk about "pregnant people" has made me really angry.
It seems that even abortion cannot be 100% female.

I am in awe of the Polish women's courage. I hope they succeed!

Women in Poland must succeed. All over the world women's rights seem to be being rolled back to background chants of 'inclusion and diversity'

Are there any women's organisations in the UK supporting this?

There are ad hoc protests taking place locally, like this one in Birmingham www.iambirmingham.co.uk/2020/11/01/hundreds-gather-birmingham-womens-strike-abortion-legislation-poland/ and there was one held in Brighton www.theargus.co.uk/news/18830903.brighton-protesters-unity-poland-abortion-law/. They have been organised by members of the local Polish communities, I can't find any national organisations currently speaking out.

Turefu you’re right - this situation is tricky because the Polish government CANNOT reverse, as they could have done if they had passed this through the Sejm. (Which they couldn’t as they didn’t have the votes.)

Changing the constitution is one thing, another possibility is for someone impacted to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. But did you see that Duda did comment? He seems to be backing off a bit from the decision- it’s the court, not the government. But just now in the middle of a global pandemic the court worries about a law that has been in place since 1993? Why?

As Gabcsika said, women in Poland are hurting right now and the situation is urgent. In Warsaw, hospitals were cancelling appointments even though the ruling has not yet taken effect, and (mayor of Warsaw) Rafał Trzaskowski spoke up and said no, you cannot do that. The idea of going abroad- it’s better than nothing, but let’s not underestimate how hard it is, especially now with COVID.

I say let the UK do something and I hope they will (UK has the longest period for a routine abortion, 24 weeks, of all European countries) but as Georgeoftheinternet pointed out, right now someone going from Poland to the UK and back has 2 weeks quarantine on each side. Women need to be able to have these procedures in Poland if they are already scheduled, and realistically if people go abroad now it will be mostly within Schengen, unless the UK does something crazy like override air corridors and quarantine for Polish women. And I don’t see that happening but why not ask.

I heard that some farmers had driven their tractors to cause disruption along certain roads in show of support too.

EarthSight yes, they did/do, and also in the cities the drivers of taxis, buses and trams use their vehicles to stop traffic in an area when protesters are going through.

If you constitution forces you to treat women like this, time to change your constitution.

It's not like Polish abortion provision was good before this latest change.

MrsTerryPrachett, no, abortion wasn’t easily accessible before. But changing Constitution is huge task. It’s the most important written law in Poland. It took years to prepare the current one. I don’t see this change happening anytime soon. Other thing is, Supreme Court members have been changed, replaced, very quickly, not long time ago, in pandemic times. Some people may argue, this change was illegal, so Supreme Court decision was void.

Amazing work women of Poland: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/poland-delays-implementing-abortion-ruling-amid-protests-high-court-ruling-abortion-law-court-poland-mateusz-morawiecki-b1558566.html