On January 27th, 2022, Poland marked the anniversary of a near-total ban on abortion. Over a year ago, the Polish Catholic Church began to lobby for a total abortion ban, which was quickly endorsed by the far-right governing party. The ban was later passed at Poland’s politically-compromised Constitutional Tribunal. 

A year later, gender equality activists reflect on the devastating effects of this constitutional ruling to ban abortion, particularly since this week the government has introduced a pregnancy registry, already being described as a new tool of repression against Polish women. 

FEAR OF GETTING PREGNANT

One of the main consequences of the near-total abortion ban has been a chilling wave of fear among Polish women. Those seeking to terminate pregnancies, even within the new legal framework where the mother is at risk, fear that their doctors will be hesitant to perform abortions due to possible prosecution. In addition, women who want to be mothers fear that they will not be provided with quality healthcare in the event of complications during the pregnancy. The first deadly victim of this reality was 30-year-old Izabela, who died just a few months after the ban was passed. Despite knowing that the fetus would not survive, the doctors refused to perform an abortion that would have saved Izabela’s life. The mother of the victim called her daughter’s death “a consequence of the verdict”. The end result of the ban appears clear: a vicious cycle of limited abortion access and poor maternal health. 

A DANGEROUS ENVIRONMENT FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS 

Since September 2021, two women have died after being denied timely abortions. This has intensified the already flaring protests across Poland. Marta Lampert, leader of Women’s Strike, the women's rights group that has been leading the protests, states that the ban is a “full-blown war on women in Poland”. More alarming is that women activists have been receiving several bomb and death threats since the beginning of the protests, with some having faced politically motivated criminal charges for opposing the abortion ban.

Even though the European Parliament and several human rights organisations condemn the hostile and violent environment towards Polish women, as well as the illegitimate constitutional tribunal’s ban on abortion, no reform has been made to the ban. As of now, nine leading international human rights organisations have filed third-party interventions at the European Court of Human Rights, providing evidence and underlining principles of international law that prohibit states from taking measures that reduce the protection of fundamental rights. 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF ABORTION CRIMINALISATION

Every year, approximately 25% of worldwide pregnancies are terminated. Even in countries that have long had strict bans, abortions are still taking place. Rather than eradicating abortion, these bans and restrictive laws force women and girls to seek out clandestine, often life-threatening methods to end their pregnancies. According to data, some 68,000 women die from unsafe abortions every year, making them one of the leading causes of maternal mortality worldwide (13%). These crippling numbers demonstrate that banning abortion is a terrible violation of women and girls’ basic human rights to life, to health, and to be free of violence and discrimination. To keep women and girls safe, the United Nations and other international mechanisms must continue to advance abortion rights in action plans, international agreements, and supranational jurisprudence. 

Lola is a Graduate in Politics and Sociology with a Masters in Democracy and Government. She has worked as a human rights analyst for the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has been a coordinator at The Women for Africa Foundation.

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