This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Exeter chapter.

This week’s woman is each and every one of the nearly six million women who went on strike in Poland to protest the new government proposal suggesting an all-out ban on abortion.

Poland’s reproductive rights are already limited, with abortions only allowed in case of:

When the mother’s life is in danger
When there is a risk of ‘serious and irreversible damage’ to the foetus
If the pregnancy is as a result of rape or incest (confirmed by a prosecutor)

The new proposal, which is under parliamentary commission, aims to make all abortions illegal, risking a prison sentence of up to five years for both for the women seeking an abortion and the doctors who perform them. The new rules could also affect women who miscarry, who would face suspicion under the new rules (in case they had induced the miscarriage themselves). Furthermore, doctors could be reluctant to carry out routine procedures on pregnant women in case of an accusation that they have facilitated an abortion.

The proposal came from an anti-abortion citizens’ initiative which gathered ~450,000 signatures, initially receiving the support of the Catholic Church. Bishops later withdrew their support on the grounds that they could not support the proposal to jail women who had an abortion.

Those 450,000 signatures have now been opposed by nearly 6 million women. Each one wears black to symbolise the mourning of their reproductive rights. They are missing work for the protest, with some establishments having shut down to show their support. Some men even helped to show their support by cooking soup and serving sandwiches. The vast majority of Poles – male and female – do not want a more restrictive abortion law. According to an Ipsos opinion poll, only 11% of Polish people support more restrictions on abortion, (around half felt existing legislation should remain unchanged, with more than a third said that abortion should be ‘more widely available’). This is in a country with 87.2% of the population being Catholics. Although the arguments for anti-choice can be largely theological, the division is not clearly across religious lines.

The original proposal is still under parliamentary commission. Nevertheless, each of these strong Polish women should be recognised this week for their courage and for standing up for the fundamental right to not allow pregnancy to carry the risk of choosing between a death sentence and a prison cell.

Sources – also useful for further information

Woman of the Week: The Polish Protestors

We wanna slide into your DMs