In Poland, I Saw What a Second Trump Term Could Do to America

by Michelle Goldberg
Photographs by Rafal Milach
Feb. 6, 2024

Adam Bodnar, Poland’s new justice minister, recently explained to me the immense challenge of rebuilding liberal democracy in his country after an eight-year slide toward authoritarianism. Imagine, he said, that Donald Trump had won the last election and been in power for two terms instead of one. “What would be the damage?” he asked.

After only four years of Trump, President Biden inherited a furiously divided nation, its courts seeded with right-wing apparatchiks and the nature of reality itself in deep dispute. But as even MAGA die-hards will acknowledge, Trump often failed to bend the state to his will, which is why his allies have a plan to do things differently next time, purging civil servants and replacing them with loyalists. Poland is a country that has just gone through something like what Trumpists hope to impose on us in a second term. Its institutions have been hollowed out. Many experienced technocrats and neutral judges have been replaced by lackeys and ideologues.

Continue: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/opinion/abortion-ban-poland-democracy.html

Police at the hospital: Abortion battle heats up in Poland

The case of a humiliating police operation in response to a woman who’d taken an abortion pill has intensified debate over whether Poland’s abortion laws have gone too far.

Jacek Lepiarz
July 23, 2023

The leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, likes to surround himself with women at campaign events. He courts them in the old Polish manner with a kiss on the hand, but such gestures belie the fact that his right-wing nationalist party is actually at war with the country's women.

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.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/police-at-the-hospital-abortion-battle-heats-up-in-poland/a-66319325

Poland’s Abortion Ban Protests Changed the Country Forever

Restrictions are still in place, but the Catholic consensus that dominated Polish politics is over.

By Joy Neumeyer
NOVEMBER 8, 2021

In October 2020, after Poland’s constitutional court imposed a near-total ban on abortion, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Demonstrators across the country were united by the lightning bolt symbol of the All-Polish Women’s Strike and a simple slogan: “Fuck off.”

One year later, their campaign may seem at first glance to have reached a dead end. The court’s decision remains in effect, and Women’s Strike leaders face criminal charges for actions committed during the protests. But the movement’s apparent defeat conceals its deep impact. The Catholic consensus that dominated Polish politics since the fall of communism is over, with far-reaching effects: Public acceptance of abortion is up, support for the ruling party has fallen, and progressive activists are building new coalitions.

Continued: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/08/poland-abortion-ban-women-strike-catholic-religion-progressive-politics/

Opposition leader blames woman’s death on ‘in-human’ abortion law

NEWS & POLITICS
NOVEMBER 05, 2021

Donald Tusk, the leader of Poland's main opposition party, Civic Platform (PO), has said that “ideology” and an “in-human law” were responsible for the death of a pregnant woman who failed to get an abortion.

The 30-year-old woman died in a hospital in the southern town of Pszczyna in September but her case came to light when a lawyer working on behalf of her family published details.

Continued: https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/opposition-leader-blames-womans-death-on-in-human-abortion-law-25823

Polish women’s groups work to circumvent new abortion regime

October’s court ruling outlaws abortions even in the case of foetal abnormalities

May 8, 2021
Derek Scally in Berlin

Justyna Wydrzynska draws an exhausted breath before describing her long days assisting the Polish women who call her each day for help.

A member of the ironically titled Abortion Dream Team, a collective which helps Polish women secure terminations abroad, Ms Wydrzynska said the women who reached her were living in a waking nightmare.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/polish-women-s-groups-work-to-circumvent-new-abortion-regime-1.4558721

Poland: Escalating Threats to Women Activists

Human Rights Watch
March 31, 2021

(Berlin) – Bomb and death threats targeting at least seven groups in Poland for supporting women’s rights and the right to abortion are disturbing reminders of escalating risks to women’s human rights defenders in the country, Human Rights Watch, CIVICUS, and International Planned Parenthood Federation-European Network (IPPF-EN) said today.

The authorities should urgently investigate, protect the women targeted and hold those responsible for the threats accountable. Polish officials should also counter abusive misinformation campaigns targeting activists.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/31/poland-escalating-threats-women-activists

31.03.2021

All-Poland Women's Strike

Andrzej Duda

anti-choice death threats

anti-choice extremism

anti-choice hatred

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice terrorism

anti-choice threats

anti-choice violence

Bartlomiej Wroblewski

Federation for Women and Family Planning

Feminoteka

FundacjaFOR

Grupa Stonewall

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

Hillary Margolis

Human Rights Watch

International Planned Parenthood Federation

International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network

International Women's Day

Law and Justice party

Marta Lempart

Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Przemysław Czarnek

Women’s Rights Centre (Centrum Praw Kobiet)

Women’s Strike

Women’s Strike Consultative Council

Poland’s Recent Abortion Ban

The PiS, the Catholic Church, and the Denial of Basic Human Rights

By Enora Lauvau
On Feb 21, 2021
The McGill International Review

Known to be a conservative Roman Catholic nation, Poland has long been home to fierce debate over abortion rights, with the two opposing sides consisting of traditionalists and those advocating a more progressive agenda. Tensions reached an all-time high last October, as the country’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled to further increase the restrictions on legal abortions. Already, Poland had some of the most stringent abortion laws in Europe, with abortion been legal in only three cases: fetal abnormalities, a direct threat to the woman’s health, and rape or incest. In a decision made on October 22, 2020, however, the court declared abortions in the case of congenital defects illegal, on the basis that the Polish Constitution protects human life. Considering that out of the mere 1,100 abortions that legally occurred in Poland last year, 98 per cent of them were for this reason, such a decision essentially ensures that those seeking abortions will either be forced to leave the country or perform them at home, both of which will put their health at risk and leave them vulnerable to legal prosecution. Already, women’s rights groups estimate that between 80,000 to 150,000 citizens get abortions outside of Poland’s health system each year.

Continued: https://www.mironline.ca/polands-recent-abortion-ban/

Poland – ‘Women’s rights are being trampled’

Voices from a protest march in Warsaw over Poland's near-total abortion ban

By Kuba Kaminski, Antonia Mortensen and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN Sun January 31, 2021

Warsaw, Poland — The protesters who marched through the Polish capital's icy streets on Friday night had a clear message for the government over its imposition this week of a near-total ban on abortions: We will stand up for women's rights.

It was the third day of protests since the ruling came into effect -- and marked 100 days of protests since Poland's constitutional tribunal court first handed down its controversial ruling, sparking weeks of mass demonstrations.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/europe/poland-abortion-law-protests-intl/index.html

Poland puts new restrictions on abortion into effect, resulting in a near-total ban on terminations

By CNN's Antonia Mortensen and Reuters
Thu January 28, 2021

(CNN)The Polish government has imposed a near-total ban on abortions, including the termination of pregnancies with fetal defects, delivering a major blow to pro-choice advocates in one of Europe's most devout Catholic countries.

The unexpected announcement that the ruling would take effect on Wednesday sparked nationwide protests, despite a ban on gatherings due to Covid-19 restrictions. On Thursday the government extended the restrictions a further two weeks until February 14.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/europe/poland-abortion-restrictions-law-intl-hnk/index.html

Poland abortion law: Protesters take to streets again as near-total ban comes into force

By Euronews with AFP, AP
Updated: 28/01/2021

New anti-government protests broke out in Polish cities on Wednesday, shortly after the country's top court confirmed its highly divisive ruling that will further tighten the predominantly Catholic nation’s strict anti-abortion law.

The ban on abortions in nearly all circumstances is to come into effect after the law was published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/2021/01/27/poland-s-ban-on-most-abortions-to-come-into-force-sparking-fresh-protests