Women in Poland may just have terminated the authoritarian rule of the nationalist party Law and Justice, which barely a few days ago seemed entrenched for decades to come. The revolt was ignited by a ruling of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal according to which abortion of a foetus with incurable or terminal defects is unconstitutional. The ruling satisfies the expectations of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, which for decades has insistently sought a complete ban on abortions in Poland. Pressure to limit access to abortion was also exerted on the Polish authorities by international nongovernmental organisations, financed by dark money – their activities were recently reported on by openDemocracy.
Until 22 October 2020, i.e. the day the ruling was issued, Polish law permitted terminations of pregnancies in three situations: in cases of foetal abnormalities, in cases of a threat to the woman’s health, and in cases of incest or rape. The ruling made the first of the three above-listed situations unconstitutional. The ruling cannot be appealed against.
Female fury
Even though free access to abortion has now become one of the main calls of the protesters, their revolt is about abortion only superficially. At its core is a desperate attempt to regain elementary human agency of which they have been blatantly and ruthlessly deprived.
