How women are resisting Poland’s abortion ban

By Costanza Spocci
26 May 2022

Warsaw, Poland – On a cold, hazy December morning, the Ryz sisters stand on a sidewalk of a busy street in Warsaw.

“Shall we go to church?” 24-year-old Olympia asks her sister, Melania, grinning and holding up a dozen pink, yellow and grey stickers with the words, “Abortion is OK”, and the hotline numbers and social media profiles of Polish pro-choice organisations.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2022/5/26/how-women-are-resisting-polands-abortion-ban


Poland abortion laws: Woman’s death spurs calls for change

Izabel’s case has intensified demands to loosen Poland’s laws, which are among the most restrictive in Europe.

By Urooba Jamal, Al Jazeera
1 Dec 2021

If Anka Adamczyk were to ever have a child, she would leave Poland to give birth. “It’s … super scary,” the 35-year-old told Al Jazeera by phone from Warsaw. “The consequences are so horrible that I would really not take the risk.”

She is among the women who are now struggling to even consider childbirth because of the country’s strict abortion laws, which have seen doctors refuse to terminate pregnancies even when complications pose a fatal risk.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/1/poland-abortion-laws-womans-death-spurs-calls-for-change


Guernsey abortion time limits to be extended to 24 weeks

July 15, 2021

Abortions up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy will become legal, under agreed reforms to Guernsey law.

Politicians approved extending the existing 12-week limit and removing the 24-week restriction in cases of a significant foetal abnormality.

About 200 pro-choice and anti-abortion activists gathered outside the States of Guernsey on Wednesday.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-57833783


Westminster steps in after Northern Ireland fails to comply with abortion law change – how it happened

April 1, 2021
Claire Pierson

Abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in October 2019. In March the following year, the legal framework was in place to provide terminations. A year later, though, it hasn’t happened. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland hasn’t provided a clear plan to commission permanent abortion services that would ensure provision would be budgeted for and available throughout all of Northern Ireland.

Now Westminster has had to intervene to ensure women in Northern Ireland can access abortion services they are legally entitled to. Abortions can be carried out in all circumstances up to week 12 of pregnancy, until week 24 if continuing the pregnancy would risk injury to the woman’s physical or mental health, and without a time limit in cases of severe or fatal foetal abnormality or risk to the life of the pregnant woman.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/westminster-steps-in-after-northern-ireland-fails-to-comply-with-abortion-law-change-how-it-happened-158239


Polish women travel abroad for abortions ahead of law change

Support services in Poland and abroad say numbers increasing even before legislation is tightened

Shaun Walker and Anna Koslerova in Prague
Sun 13 Dec 2020

Polish women are increasingly being forced to travel abroad to seek abortions even though a court ruling to tighten the country’s already strict laws has not yet coming into force, activists have said.

The constitutional court ruled in October
that abortion was illegal even in cases where there were severe foetal
abnormalities. Around 1,000 abortions a year – almost all of the country’s
legal abortion procedures – are carried out for this reason.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/13/polish-women-travel-abroad-for-abortions-ahead-of-new-law


Poland’s recent challenge on the road towards emancipation of women

Abortion has always been a topic of dispute regarding both women’s rights and a broader notion of human rights.

Monday, 30 November 2020
Sukran Unal

Various political, medical, religious or ethical
views on the topic have eventually led to the deepening of the controversy and
blocked the way to figure out a common solution across the world. Today, there
are also ongoing debates in the EU concerning the ethics and legitimacy of
abortion.

The issue is attributed utmost importance not only by most of the EU Member
States, but also by the EU itself, as well as the candidate countries having to
comply with the acquis to realise their prospective EU membership aspirations.

Continued: https://www.brusselstimes.com/opinion/140805/an-eu-wide-debate-polands-recent-challenge-on-the-road-towards-emancipation-of-women/


Polish de facto ban on abortion puts women’s lives at risk, says Parliament

November 27, 2020
by The Sting's Team

MEPs condemn the setback to women’s sexual and reproductive rights in Poland and stress the EU’s legal obligation to uphold and protect them.

In a resolution adopted with 455 votes to 145 and 71 abstentions, Parliament says that the ruling of 22 October by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal to make abortion illegal in cases involving severe and irreversible foetal defects “puts women’s health and lives at risk”, as most legal abortions in the country are performed on those grounds. Banning that option, which accounted for 96% of legal pregnancy terminations in Poland in 2019 (1,074 out of 1,110), would lead to an increase in “unsafe, clandestine and life-threatening abortions”, MEPs warn.

Continued: https://europeansting.com/2020/11/27/polish-de-facto-ban-on-abortion-puts-womens-lives-at-risk-says-parliament/


Poland rules abortion due to foetal defects unconstitutional

Constitutional court’s ruling could pave way for governing PiS party to move ahead with legislative ban

The Guardian
Thu 22 Oct 2020

Poland’s constitutional tribunal has ruled that abortion due to foetal defects is unconstitutional, rejecting the most common of the few legal grounds for pregnancy termination in the predominantly Catholic country.

The
chief justice, Julia Przyłębska, said in a ruling that existing legislation –
one of Europe’s most restrictive – that allows for the abortion of malformed
foetuses was “incompatible” with the constitution.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/22/poland-rules-abortion-due-to-foetal-defects-unconstitutional


India – Abortion bill 2020 is good, but not good enough

Abortion bill 2020 is good, but not good enough

Feb 16, 2020
Sanchita Sharma, Hindustantimes

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Bill, 2020, has got several things right. Raising the upper limit of legal abortions from 20 weeks to 24 weeks for “special categories of women”, including rape and incest survivors, other vulnerable women, and children; and completely removing the upper gestation limit for abortion in the cases of substantial foetal abnormalities will help many more seek safe and legal abortion services.

Other positive inclusions are allowing all women, and not just married ones, to legally seek abortions, and striking out the need for the opinion of a second registered practitioner for aborting pregnancies up to 20 weeks. The draft proposes that the opinion of two practitioners will now be needed only for abortions in the 20-24 weeks period.

Continued; https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/abortion-bill-2020-is-good-but-not-good-enough/story-6KVwb0oEpnK7kad12aRSoI.html