Poland’s far-right amplifies abortion wars ahead of election

by Barbara Wolk
April 28, 2025

Poland’s abortion debate has once again taken a dangerous turn — this time sparked by far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun, who stormed a Polish hospital to attempt a citizen’s arrest of a doctor performing a medically-indicated late-term abortion. Braun, a presidential hopeful from the extreme-right in the upcoming May elections, accused the doctor of committing “murder,” live-streaming his political stunt to rally his conservative base.

Currently, abortion is only legal in Poland in two circumstances: if the pregnancy is the result of rape (up to 12 weeks), or if the pregnancy poses a threat to the woman's life or health. The third legal reason — severe fetal abnormalities — was abolished in 2020 when the Law and Justice (PiS)-controlled constitutional tribunal ruled it unconstitutional, effectively reducing the number of abortions performed in hospitals by 90 percent. Since then, abortion has become not just a medical issue, but a political weapon of the far-right — used to polarise, control, and distract.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/eu-political/ard15429ac

Our Abortion Stories: ‘I’m a Registered Nurse, a Wife and a Mother. This Story Is Personal and Painful.’

Feb 13, 2024
by AMY ROGERS

My name is Amy Rogers; I’m a registered nurse, a wife and a mother. I am writing this in support of House Bill 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act. This story is personal and painful. I am sharing this for myself, my daughters, and the 25 million women of childbearing age living in states with abortion bans or restrictions.

In 2011, my husband and I were newlyweds. We had primary custody of his 8-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter. I had just turned 43 and was shocked and delighted to discover that I was pregnant. Due to my age, I assumed my chances of conceiving without fertility treatments were slim to none.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/02/13/dobbs-abortion-story-healthcare-genetic-testing-abnormality-womens-health-protection-act/

Poland shows the difficulties of trying to reverse an abortion ban

By Kate Brady and Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post
January 27, 2024

PRENZLAU, Germany — Only 30 miles separate the two clinics where gynecologist Maria Kubisa works, but what’s legal at her clinic on this side of the border would be criminal at the clinic back in Poland.

So women have been crossing over to seek help from Kubisa on this side, especially in the past three years, since a Polish court backed by a ring-wing government imposed a near-ban on abortion.

Unlocked: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/27/poland-abortion-12-weeks-donald-tusk/

Thousands protest in Poland against strict abortion law after pregnant woman died of sepsis

By VANESSA GERA, Associated Press

June 14, 2023

WARSAW, Poland -- Thousands of people demonstrated across Poland on Wednesday against the country's restrictive abortion law after a woman who was five months pregnant died of sepsis, the latest such death since a tightening of the law.

The protesters vented their fury against the governing Law and Justice party, or PiS, and doctors who refuse to perform abortions even when a woman's life is at risk. There have been reported cases of hospitals that refused to terminate pregnancies because of the presence of a fetal heartbeat even when the women were in grave danger.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/abortion-rights-protests-planned-poland-after-death-pregnant-100063909

USA – You Cannot Hear These 13 Women’s Stories and Believe the Anti-Abortion Narrative

May 22, 2023
By Michelle Goldberg

It’s increasingly clear that it’s not safe to be pregnant in states with total abortion bans. Since the end of Roe v. Wade, there has been a barrage of gutting stories about women in prohibition states denied care for miscarriages or forced to continue nonviable pregnancies.

Though some in the anti-abortion movement publicly justify this sort of treatment, others have responded with a combination of denial, deflection and conspiracy theorizing. Some activists have blamed the pro-choice movement for spooking doctors into not intervening when pregnancies go horribly wrong. “Abortion advocates are spreading the dangerous lie that lifesaving care is not or may not be permitted in these states, leading to provider confusion and poor outcomes for women,” said a report by the anti-abortion Charlotte Lozier Institute.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/22/opinion/abortion-law-texas-lawsuit.html

“Some Anti-Abortion People Will Say Our Situation Was Different. It’s Not.”

Three stories of people navigating a new world of restrictions post-Roe

Katie Herchenroeder
April 13, 2023

One woman had already decorated the nursery. Another had picked out a name, something with family history. A third woman was sifting through her oldest child’s clothes to see what might fit the next addition to the family. Their hopes had risen over the months; plans were taking form. Then the appointment happened.

For those who must terminate their pregnancy for medical reasons, or undergo a TFMR, as the procedure is known, the need typically becomes apparent during an appointment that takes place later in the second trimester, after week 16 or 17, an important phase for fetal development—and a period that has become highly politicized and regulated in post-Dobbs America.

Continued: https://newrepublic.com/article/171115/abortion-as-told-to-roe-dobbs

13.04.2023

Commentary

abortion stories

fatal fetal abnormalities

severe fetal abnormalities

TFMR

women's abortion stories

United States

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Human Rights

USA – As a med student, he saw women nearly die from illegal abortions. At 83, he sees no end to his work

BY MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE, HOUSTON BUREAU CHIEF
Photography by GINA FERAZZI
MARCH 10, 2022

BOULDER, Colo. — Dr. Warren Hern doesn’t have to imagine what could befall many women in America if the Supreme Court strikes down Roe vs. Wade.

In 1963, he was a medical student working nights at Colorado General Hospital in Denver. Women would arrive in septic shock, some probably hours from death. “Nobody talked about why they were there,” Hern recalled.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-03-10/abortion-doctor-fears-roes-fall

How the Texas ban on most abortions is harming survivors of rape and incest

November 15, 2021
ASHLEY LOPEZ, NPR

The SAFE Alliance in Austin helps survivors of child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence. Back before Texas' new abortion law went into effect, the organization counseled a 12-year-old girl who had been repeatedly raped by her father.

Piper Stege Nelson, chief public strategies officer for the SAFE Alliance, says the father didn't let the young girl leave the house.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/11/15/1054710917/texas-abortion-law-harm-sexual-assault-survivors

15.11.2021

abortion for rape and incest

Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health

Carole Joffe

incest and abortion

Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing

severe fetal abnormalities

Texas Right to Life

European Court of Human Rights notifies Warsaw of 12 cases linked to abortion ban

By Hannah Somerville
Updated: 08/07/2021

The European Court of Human Rights has notified the Polish government of 12 separate cases being brought against it by Polish women over abortion rights.

A near-total ban abortions came into effect in Poland in January 2021, prompting mass protests in the country and condemnation from across the EU.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/08/european-court-of-human-rights-notifies-warsaw-of-12-cases-linked-to-abortion-ban

08.07.2021

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ECHR

European Convention on Human Rights

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Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Polish abortion ban

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Abortion tragedy: Couple left to terminate pregnancy at 25 weeks after midwife misses two ultrasounds

20 Jun, 2021
By: Emma Russell

A young couple made a gruelling decision to terminate their first pregnancy at 25 weeks after a midwife failed to read two earlier ultrasounds showing significant abnormalities.

If the scans had been read by the midwife, problems with the pregnancy would likely have been picked up four weeks earlier.

Continued: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/abortion-tragedy-couple-left-to-terminate-pregnancy-at-25-weeks-after-midwife-misses-two-ultrasounds/MLFBB7UYFKOSXCJE23QPH2H6RM/

20.06.2021