EHF signs statement of solidarity with Polish women

Women’s sexual and reproductive rights are once more under attack in Poland! Indeed, a new drastic law on abortion is about to be put in front of the Parliament. It’s effect would be an almost complete ban of abortion in Poland, a country that already has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe.

This time, what the promoters of the bills are after is the right of Polish women to terminate a pregnancy in case of fatal or severe foetal abnormality, meaning that – we will spell it out – women are forced to carry a pregancy  to term even if, once born the foetus is not viable outside the woman’s womb!

The remaining cases in which abortion would still be permitted are rape and incest or when the woman’s life or health is in danger. When you know that over 95% of abortions in Poland are performed on the grounds of severe foetal abnormality, the proposed law is almost equivalent to a full ban!

In 2016, Polish women already had to mobilize to defend their restricted access to abortion when antoher near-total ban championned by certain parts of the country’s powerful Cathlic Church was on the table. This is how the Polish Women’s Strike or Black Protest as born.

We need your support and we need it now! We need solidarity and sisterhood. It’s been two years since the ruling party in Poland with backing of the Catholic Church has been trying to turn our lives into hell.

, said Natalia Greniewska from Women’s strike movement.

Today, they have to mobilize again and the EHF wishes to express its wholehearted solidarity! This is why we joined the international statement of solidarity that you can read here or below!

Polish Parliament Must Protect Women’s Health and Rights

22 March 2018

We are deeply concerned by relentless attempts to roll back the reproductive rights of women in Poland.

This week Poland’s parliament is debating a new draft bill entitled “Stop Abortion.” If adopted, this legislation will further limit the already restricted grounds on which women can lawfully access abortion in Poland. It will place women’s health and lives at risk and violate Poland’s international human rights obligations.

We call on Members of Poland’s Parliament to listen to the voices of women across Poland and to reject this regressive legislative proposal and protect women’s health and human rights. Poland already has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is only lawful to safeguard the life or health of women, in situations of severe fetal anomaly or where the pregnancy results from rape or another criminal act such as incest. Even in those situations in which abortion is legal, multiple barriers combine to limit women’s access in practice. The latest “Stop Abortion” proposal seeks to ban abortion in situations where there is a severe fetal anomaly.

If the “Stop Abortion” bill is passed it will mean that abortion care will no longer be available to women in Poland when they receive a diagnosis of a severe or fatal fetal anomaly. Official statistics from 2016 show that in practice 96% of legal abortions in Poland are performed on these grounds. Most women in Poland who decide to end a pregnancy resulting from rape or because their health is at risk are unable to access legal abortion care in Poland and must travel outside the country to do so. This bill would further hinder women, particularly those from low-income and rural communities, from accessing safe abortion care.

Since 2011, Poland’s government has launched repeated attacks on women’s reproductive rights. In 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 draft legislative proposals were introduced that contained total or near total bans on abortion. Following massive public protests, such as the Black Protests in 2016, these draft bills were defeated.

Prohibiting women from accessing safe, legal abortion violates a number of human rights enshrined in international law, including the rights to life, health and health care, nondiscrimination and equality, privacy, and freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled that the Polish government, in hindering timely access to abortion, has violated women’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Numerous international human rights bodies, including the UN Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Committee Against Torture, have called on governments to remove barriers to abortion services and ensure access to safe and legal abortion.

Image credit: Agencja Gazeta via IPPF-EN.