Poland – REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ALERTS

14 Nov

Polish Left Submits Bills To Liberalise Abortion Law

MollyInternational, Latest NewsAbortion Access, Abortion assistance, Abortion Care, Abortion Rights, Decriminalization, Poland, Termination, twelve weeks

"Poland's leftists, part of a coalition in control of the new parliament, said on Tuesday they had submitted two bills to liberalise one of Europe's most restrictive abortion laws. Abortion in the majority-Catholic country is currently legal only if the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest or threatens the life or health of the woman. "One of them provides for full legalisation of the right to terminate a pregnancy until the 12th week," Left lawmaker Anna Maria Zukowska told AFP. "The other is a bill decriminalising abortion assistance," she added. The draft legislation was submitted on Monday, when Poland's…

16 Sep

The war on women who use abortion pills takes a terrifying new turn

BarbraInternationalAbortion Pills, Abortion Rights, Healthcare, International, Poland

Researchers in Poland have developed tests that can detect if a woman has taken mifepristone. It’s a chilling development

14 Sep

Poland’s ‘witch hunt’ of women and girls

MollyInternationalAbortion Ban, Abortion Pills, Healthcare, Medication abortion, Poland

"...Women and girls have been put under intense scrutiny for alleged abortion-related activity when they seek urgent health care. Joanna, a 32-year-old woman, told HRW that the police demanded to strip search her in April after she had a self-administered medication abortion, which is legal. Two weeks later, she called her psychiatrist for help with symptoms of severe anxiety. During the call, she disclosed her abortion to her psychiatrist, who called an ambulance and contacted the police. Police arrived at Joanna’s apartment alongside a paramedic and escorted her to two different hospitals. At the second one, she was ordered to…

23 Jul

Police at the hospital: Abortion battle heats up in Poland

MollyUnited StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Rights, Europe, Government, legislation, Poland, Police action, United States

"...An ever closer alliance between the Polish government and the Catholic Church has led to a radical tightening of abortion laws in recent years. In 2020, the PiS-controlled Constitutional Court removed the risk of serious fetal malformation as a condition allowing for legal abortion, creating a climate of fear and mistrust among doctors and women...."

20 Jul

“Undress, Squat, Cough” — Police In Poland Ramp Up The Abortion Crackdown

MollyInternationalAbortion Ban, Abortion Pills, Abortion Restriction, Emergency Contraceptive Pills, International, Krakow, Poland, Police action

"Poland's conservative government has made restricting abortion access a guiding pillar since returning to power in 2015. Now that appears to include orders to police to detain women seeking access to terminate a pregnancy in the case of health risks, one of the few exceptions to the strict national abortion ban. One Polish woman, identified as "Joanna" told police this week that police detained her, saying she had been pressured into having an abortion. She had purchased abortion pills on her own volition after health problems, and had decided to take them, which is not punishable in Poland, But the state saw it…

14 Jun

Poles hold protests demanding liberalized abortion law after death of pregnant woman

MollyInternationalAbortion Care, Abortion restrictions, Abortion Rights, Healthcare, legislation, Poland, Protest

"Poles demanding a liberalization of the abortion law protested in Warsaw and other Polish cities on Wednesday after a woman who was five months pregnant died of sepsis, the latest such death since a tightening of Poland’s abortion law. The protesters vented their fury against the ruling party, Law and Justice, or PiS, over several deaths in maternity wards in the past couple of years. The cases involved hospitals that refused to terminate pregnancies due to the presence of a fetal heartbeat even when the women were in grave danger...."

14 Jun

Women have right to abortion if life is threatened says PM

MollyInternationalAbortion Care, Abortion Rights, Healthcare, legislation, Poland

"Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has said a woman can have an abortion if there is any threat to the her life or health. The prime minister was speaking in reaction to the death of a 33-year-old woman last month. The woman died from septic shock after being hospitalised in the southern town of Nowy Targ in the fifth month of pregnancy...."