Polish Government Response to Biggest protest in Decades
Ignoring the threat of prosecution and the dangers posed by a surge of coronavirus cases, tens of thousands of women outraged by a court decision to ban nearly all abortions in Poland converged in Warsaw, intensifying what have been the largest demonstrations in the country since the fall of communism in 1989. With a musical medley that included Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars, in a poke at the government, and techno music blaring over loudspeakers, crowds of women flooded the streets of the capital. Many of the women had the red lightning bolt that has become the iconic image of the movement emblazoned on their clothes, as the police and military security officers flanked them as they marched. They were joined by thousands of men and a wide array of groups who believe that the hard-won freedoms of the post-communist era are slipping away under the rule of the increasingly autocratic Law and Justice Party.
Poland already had some of the strictest abortion legislation in the EU. In three decades since the end of communism, the country has lived under the “abortion compromise”. Public opinion favoured retaining liberal post-communist abortion laws. But politicians, bowing to the power of the Catholic church, tightened the law, anyway in the mid-1990s without recourse to a referendum, leaving foetal abnormality as one of the only available routes for women seeking terminations. Since 1997, of approximately 1,000 legal terminations performed annually in Poland, the vast majority cite severe foetal abnormality. After last week’s ruling by the tribunal, this too will be illegal.
However, Poland’s rightwing government has delayed implementation of the controversial court ruling that outlawed almost all abortions. “There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation, which is difficult and stirs high emotions,” Michał Dworaczyk, the head of the prime minister’s office, told Polish media on Tuesday.
Reproductive rights have been a key political battleground in Poland in recent years. Already back in 2016, the hard-right Law and Justice (PiS) government tried to pass a bill further restricting abortion, only to retreat in the face of the so-called “Black Protests.” The days following this latest ruling have seen an even more powerful wave of demonstrations, including strikes at workplaces up and down the country. This is a mass protest of Polish society — still centred on a feminist agenda, but which is not only about that. It also expresses frustration at the government’s failure to take responsibility faced with the pandemic, and with the rising numbers of deaths in Poland.
And a total abortion ban has very grave economic consequences. Each year, 120,000 women in Poland have an abortion. Mainly, they are either illegally conducted in Poland, or else you can travel abroad for one, depending on how able you are to afford it. The clothes hanger is a symbol — of course, even illegal abortion isn’t done with these tools anymore. However, this ban will cause both further economic exclusion and health risks for those who can’t go abroad.
However, the decision to delay the implementation of the law has still not been published. Despite a Monday deadline, and as such has not entered into force. “It is a political decision,” said Anna Wójcik, a researcher at the law studies institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences. “Judgments are meant to be published with no delay. It’s a legal trick to withhold publishing.”
By Jumana Jabeer
