The case of a humiliating police operation in response to a lady who’d taken an abortion capsule has intensified debate over whether or not Poland’s abortion legal guidelines have gone too far.
The chief of Poland’s ruling Legislation and Justice (PiS) occasion, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, likes to encompass himself with girls at marketing campaign occasions. He courts them within the outdated Polish method with a kiss on the hand, however such gestures belie the truth that his right-wing nationalist occasion is definitely at warfare with the nation’s girls.
An ever nearer alliance between the Polish authorities and the Catholic Church has led to a radical tightening of abortion legal guidelines lately. In 2020, the PiS-controlled Constitutional Court docket eliminated the danger of significant fetal malformation as a situation permitting for authorized abortion, making a local weather of worry and distrust amongst docs and ladies.
The legal guidelines have already brought about the deaths of a number of girls, named right here on the protest in Warsaw in June Picture: Kacper Pempel/REUTERS
The most recent incident associated to the inflexible abortion ban turned public this week, although it happened in late April: A younger Polish girl from Krakow named Joanna had taken an abortion capsule as a result of she feared that being pregnant would endanger her well being. A number of days later she consulted her psychologist about persistent anxiousness. The psychologist feared that her affected person might need suicidal intentions and alerted the emergency companies. Shortly thereafter, not simply an emergency medical workforce, but additionally a police patrol knowledgeable by the emergency service confirmed up at Joanna’s residence door.
Harassment on the hospital
However the true drama started after she was admitted to a navy hospital. Though the affected person denied suicidal intent, law enforcement officials confiscated her laptop computer and demanded that she hand over her mobile phone. They surrounded and monitored her, obstructing medical care regardless of protests by docs.
Combating for abortion rights – Polish girls’s wrestle To view this video please allow JavaScript, and think about upgrading to an online browser that helps HTML5 video
The harassment continued after the affected person was transferred to a different hospital for additional examination. Two feminine law enforcement officials who have been known as in requested the affected person to strip bare, squat and cough. “I used to be nonetheless bleeding and refused to take off my panties,” Joanna instructed broadcaster TVN in a tearful interview on July 20. “It was so humiliating,” she added. “I felt powerless.”
The state prosecutor’s workplace has launched an investigation into her case, citing, amongst different issues, Article 152, Part 2 of the Legal Code, which states that anybody who helps or persuades a pregnant girl to terminate her being pregnant faces a jail sentence of as much as three years.
An ‘organized witch hunt’
“I’ve repeatedly confirmed that I purchased the abortion capsule myself on-line and that nobody helped me do it,” Joanna instructed TVN. It isn’t a punishable offense to personally purchase an abortion drug and take it in Poland. Solely aiding and abetting an abortion is prohibited.
“However, the law enforcement officials stored speaking a few crime,” mentioned Kamila Ferenc, a lawyer for the FEDERA Basis for Ladies and Household Planning who’s now representing Joanna.
“It was the magic phrase ‘abortion’ that inspired the overzealous law enforcement officials to hold out this large-scale operation,” mentioned psychologist Maja Herman.
Robert Biedron, a European MEP for the social democratic Left Social gathering, throughout an anti-government protest in Warsaw in early June Picture: Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto/image alliance
Member of the social democratic New Left occasion and European Union parliamentarian Robert Biedron spoke of an “organized witch hunt” in opposition to girls and a “barbaric abortion legislation,” along with “law enforcement officials who needed to ingratiate themselves with PiS.”
Police commander weighs in
In mild of the media furor surrounding the case, the usually taciturn police commander-in-chief Jaroslaw Szymczyk spoke out on Thursday. “The dramatic state of affairs by which Joanna discovered herself was not the fault of the police,” he mentioned, including that every one police measures have been geared toward defending her and different potential clients of abortion drugs.
Jaroslaw Szymczyk, Poland’s police commander-in-chief, denies wrongdoing by officers within the case Picture: Artur Widak/NurPhot/image alliance
Confiscating her laptop computer and cell phone have been meant to assist establish who offered the abortion capsule and rule out the likelihood that it may have dangerous well being penalties. Asking the affected person to undress in entrance of officers additionally had a function, he mentioned, explaining that they needed to make sure that she had not hidden any objects that would have been used to hurt herself.
Tusk requires protest march
Donald Tusk, head of the nation’s largest opposition occasion Civic Platform (PO), has additionally joined the controversy. “Joanna was humiliated. But it surely’s not simply her,” he mentioned.
Since 2020, at the least six girls have died in Poland as a result of docs carried out a medically mandatory abortion both too late or in no way, citing worry of penalties or causes of conscience, in accordance with analysis by the 2022 European Parliament.
“A PiS-ruled Poland is not only concerning the prosecutor, police and the priest coming to the hospital or gynecologist’s workplace and finishing up merciless checks that may result in tragedy. It’s also concerning the appetites of Kaczynski and [Justice Minister] Ziobro to brutally intervene in our – in your – lives,” Tusk mentioned.
He known as for a “march of one million hearts” on October 1 in order that Poles can present that they now not need PiS in energy. “Nobody ought to doubt that the great persons are within the majority,” Tusk mentioned. On June 4, about half one million folks demonstrated in Warsaw in opposition to authorities insurance policies.
Slawomir Mentzen, head of Confederation, an alliance of far-right events in Poland Picture: Cezary Aszkielowicz/Agencja Wyborcza/REUTERS
Worry of repressive abortion rules is prone to develop. The far-right political alliance Confederation Liberty and Independence has garnered elevated approval scores for months, with the newest polls placing the nationalist teams concerned at 15 % or extra. In 2019, Confederation chief Slawomir Mentzen known as for a complete ban on abortion, with jail sentences of as much as ten years for each sufferers and docs.
Political observers don’t rule out the likelihood that PiS may type a coalition with Confederation after the upcoming parliamentary elections in October.
This text orginally appeared in German.