Poland: Authorities must protect peaceful protests against abortion restrictions

29 October 2020
Amnesty International

People protesting peacefully against the new restrictions on abortion in Poland have faced excessive use of force by police officers, and have been arbitrarily detained without access to lawyers in the last few days. Ahead of large protests expected tomorrow, Draginja Nadazdin, Director of Amnesty International Poland, said:

“The massive wave of support for women in Poland is a sign that the government and the authorities cannot simply continue to violate women’s rights without opposition. Women in Poland are living under one of the strictest regimes in Europe in terms of access to abortion. Their right to protest against these restrictions must be upheld. The police must facilitate those wishing to protest peacefully in support of women, including by safeguarding protesters against harassment and violent attacks by counter-demonstrators.”

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/poland-authorities-must-protect-peaceful-protests-against-abortion-restrictions/


As Poland defies ‘European values,’ women resist on streets and online

As Poland defies 'European values,' women resist on streets and online

By Eliza Mackintosh, CNN
Wed April 22, 2020

(CNN)Marta Gorczynska got in her car and started driving.

She didn't have a destination as she passed through Warsaw's mostly deserted streets, but, just before noon last Tuesday, she got a text with directions: go to Rondo Dmowskiego.

Gorczynska, a human rights lawyer, was among a throng of protesters that used their vehicles to defy Poland's lockdown and block the main roundabout in the capital, honking their horns and shouting slogans against a citizen's bill to tighten what are already some of the most restrictive abortion laws anywhere in Europe.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/europe/poland-protest-abortion-lockdown-intl/index.html


Poland – Barbarian anti-abortion bill back in the fundamentalists’ game

Barbarian anti-abortion bill back in the fundamentalists’ game
June 29, 2018

Fundamentalists led by activist Kaja Godek forced the Social Policy and Family Committee to debate the repressive “Stop abortion” bill on Monday (2.07.2018) at 4 pm. Let us recall that this draft law would penalize abortions in case of foetal impairment, which now make up 95% of all legal abortions performed in the Polish hospitals. This decision comes as a surprise, because the committee declared not to deal with this draft law in the foreseeable future. Even more disrupting is the fact that Godek informed about the Monday session before a) it was announced at the website of the Parliament b) MPs were informed about the bill having been added to the Committee’s agenda. Since March, the anti-choice groups has led an intensified lobbying on the streets, social media, accusing the ruling party (Law and Justice) of being treacherous and too reluctant to sanction the abortion ban. Godek participated in many Committee’s session to exert pressure on the chairperson so that she would include the draft law in the agenda. The Committee received many critical opinions about the bill from the parliamentary Bureau of Research, The Supreme Bar Council, The Amnesty International Poland, The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and The Federation for Women and Family Planning.

Continued: http://en.federa.org.pl/barbarian-anti-abortion-bill-back-in-the-game/


Poland limits access to morning-after pill

Poland limits access to morning-after pill

June 26, 2017
By Beata Stur

A new law in Poland restricts access to emergency contraception and will have a “catastrophic impact on rape survivors,” warned a leading human rights organisation.

Polish President Andrzej Duda on June 23 approved legislation that will end prescription-free access to the morning-after pill. The new law comes into effect next month.

“We consider it as another blow to women’s rights, and will affect teenagers and those in remote rural areas, and will have a particularly catastrophic impact on rape survivors,” said Draginja Nadazdin, director of Amnesty International in Poland, in a statement issued on June 25.

Continued at link: New Europe: https://www.neweurope.eu/article/poland-limits-access-morning-pill/