‘I will do the same again’: activists continue fight against Poland’s strict abortion laws

Justyna Wydrzyńska, who was convicted for providing abortion pills, refuses to give up campaign for legal terminations

Jennifer Rankin
Wed 24 May 2023

In February 2020, a desperate woman made a phone call to the activist group Abortion Without Borders.

Ania (not her real name) was 12 weeks’ pregnant with twins and trapped in a relationship with a violent partner. She was also suffering from hyperemesis, an acute pregnancy sickness that left her vomiting multiple times a day, unable to keep down food. She wanted to end her pregnancy, but every avenue was blocked under Poland’s strict abortion laws.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/24/i-will-do-the-same-again-activists-continue-fight-against-poland-strict-abortion-laws


“I Felt That I Had Saved My Own Life”: A Polish Woman’s Harrowing Story of Illegal Abortion

Polish activist Justyna Wydrzyńska is the first woman in Europe to be convicted of “intent to aid” an abortion. For the first time, the woman she helped, Ania, tells the story of her desperate quest to end her pregnancy.

By Rebecca Grant
April 18, 2023

On March 14, 2023, the Polish activist Justyna Wydrzyńska was convicted of “intent to aid” an abortion. Wydrzyńska is a prominent abortion rights activist in Poland, and in February 2020, she was contacted by Ania (a pseudonym), a woman who was desperate for help accessing medication abortion. Ania’s situation was tragic and complicated, and Wydrzyńska was moved by her pleas. She had a pack of abortion pills in her home and sent it to Ania via a courier service, but before Ania could take them, her partner discovered the pills and reported it to the police.

Wydrzyńska was charged in late 2021 and her trial dragged on for a year. With the guilty verdict, she became the first activist in Europe convicted for this type of crime. Her case has attracted international attention, in part because it reflected a new frontier in abortion prosecutions—targeting activists. During the trial, vague details about Ania, and what inspired Wydrzyńska to mail her the pills, filtered out, but Ania has never gone on the record to share what led her to ask for help.

In this exclusive US interview with The Nation, Ania tells her story publicly, in her own words, for the first time. It’s a story of determination, of fear, of solidarity, of loneliness, and of gratitude. It’s also a story of the visceral harm that abortion bans inflict on women, and the lengths people will go to end pregnancies they cannot carry. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

By Ania

A little more than three years ago, my whole life and opinions and worldviews changed completely. I would never have suspected that I would have an unwanted pregnancy and would have taken the decision to terminate it. This way of thinking lasted until the day of [my own experience].

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/pregnancy-abortion-poland/tnamp/
Longer full story from Abortion Dream Team: https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/90350/85793279289852940


Guilty of abetting abortion, Polish woman vows to fight on

By LORNE COOK
Mar 24, 2023

BRUSSELS (AP) — The way Justyna Wydrzyńska sees it, Ania was a victim of domestic violence just like she was. Another child and she’d be trapped. It was 2020. The pandemic lockdowns. Everyone worried that Poland’s borders might close, halting travel and postal services.

Looking to help someone she identified with, Wydrzyńska gave Ania the abortion pills she kept on hand for herself. “I just sent the pills, just shared them, because I thought it would be good for her to have this tool and decide whatever she wants (and can) leave without another kid and be able to get free from this violent relationship,” Wydrzyńska told The Associated Press in Brussels on Thursday.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/poland-abortion-rights-activist-court-justice-eu-4510931835c2d950ca73535657267d41


A woman convicted in Poland for aiding abortion says she did what was right

NPR | By Ari Shapiro, Matt Ozug, Karen Zamora
Published March 17, 2023
Podcast interview - 5:25 mins

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Poland's abortion laws are some of the most restrictive in Europe. Abortion is almost entirely illegal. Helping someone end a pregnancy can lead to jail time. One year ago, we first heard from an activist in Poland - the first woman to face criminal charges under Polish abortion law for helping a woman in an abusive relationship obtain abortion pills.

JUSTYNA WYDRZYNSKA: She was begging us, please help me somehow.

SHAPIRO: Well, this week, Justyna Wydrzynska received her sentence. A judge in Warsaw gave her eight months of community service. And she joins us now. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

WYDRZYNSKA: Thank you. Thank you for invitation.

Continued: https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-03-17/a-woman-convicted-in-poland-for-aiding-abortion-says-she-did-what-was-right


Polish activist found guilty in abortion case to appeal sentence

Justyna Wydrzynska was convicted on Tuesday, three years after providing a woman with abortion pills.

By Gouri Sharma
Published On 15 Mar 2023

A Polish activist found guilty of facilitating an abortion has told Al Jazeera that she plans to appeal her sentence in a case that is testing the nation’s strict abortion laws.

On Tuesday, a court in the capital, Warsaw, convicted Justyna Wydrzynska three years after she sent the pills to a woman who was reportedly in an abusive relationship. Alongside eight months of community service, she was handed a fine, and will now have a criminal record.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/15/polish-activist-found-guilty-in-abortion-case-to-appeal-sentence


Polish court convicts activist for helping woman get abortion pills

Justyna Wydrzynska sentenced to community service after telling court she sent pills to victim of domestic violence

Weronika Strzyżyńska and agencies in Warsaw
Tue 14 Mar 2023

A court in Poland has convicted an activist for helping a pregnant woman access abortion pills, sentencing her to eight months of community service in a landmark case over abortion rights in the predominantly Catholic country.

“I do not feel that I am facing the court alone,” said Justyna Wydrzynska at the hearing on Tuesday. “Behind me are my friends and hundreds of women I have not had the luck to meet yet.”

Continued : https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/mar/14/polish-court-convicts-activist-for-helping-woman-get-abortion-pills  


Polish abortion: Activist guilty of providing pills to end pregnancy

March 14, 2023
by Adam Easton, BBC News, Warsaw

A Polish woman has been sentenced to eight months of community service for illegally helping another woman to have an abortion.

Abortion has been almost completely banned in Poland and Justyna Wydrzynska is thought to be the first activist to be tried for aiding a pregnant woman.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64950505


Poland – Denying Access to Abortion Is Femicide

In Poland, a country held ransom by religious fanatics, people don’t want to see more women suffer from denied abortion care.

1/6/2023
by IRENE DONADIO and MARTA LEMPART

It has been just over two years since the imposition of a near-total ban on abortion across Poland. The ban removed almost all conditions in which a woman can access abortion care, leaving millions of women in the dark when it comes to deciding what happens to their bodies.

For some women, continuing to carry their pregnancies is the most dangerous thing they can do. Even though Poland’s rigid laws state that abortion can be performed to save women’s health or life, many doctors refuse to give them to women who desperately need them. 

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/01/06/poland-abortion-ban-women-death-dying/


Poland: Lawmaker Faces Charges for Pro-Choice Protest

Targeting MP Escalates Attacks on Women’s Rights, Free Speech

December 4, 2022

(Berlin) – Poland’s government should immediately drop charges against a member of parliament who participated in a pro-choice protest and stop targeting reproductive rights activists, Human Rights Watch said today.

On November 29, 2022, the Toruń prosecutor’s office charged Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, a member of the Left (Lewica) party, with “offending religious feelings” and “malicious interference with religious worship.” Each offense carries a penalty of up to two years in prison. She pleaded not guilty.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/12/04/poland-lawmaker-faces-charges-pro-choice-protest


‘Necessary to Disobey Harmful Laws’: These ‘Abortion Pirates’ Want Equal Access to Abortion Pills Worldwide

A colorful crowd of doctors, researchers and women’s activists convened in the Latvian capital to explore ways to use pills to circumvent anti-abortion laws.

By EMILY SCHULTHEIS
11/26/2022

RIGA, Latvia — For two sunny, crisp autumn days in mid-September, Riga’s Stradiņš University felt like the epicenter of a self-styled global civil rights movement: to give every person, in every culture or country, regardless of laws, access to abortion pills.

In the hallways, women pored over posters showing the latest research on the effectiveness of abortion pills and other developments in abortion and contraception care. Representatives from pharmaceutical companies enthusiastically pitched their medications and products to doctors sipping coffee and tea during a break between panels. There were graphic novels about an at-home medical abortion and T-shirts printed with women’s self-stated reasons for ending a pregnancy; there were slogans printed on T-shirts like “Make Abortion Legal Again” and a video promoting abortion rights to the tune of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/11/26/global-abortion-rights-movement-latvia-00069224