One year on, a third woman is killed by Poland’s anti-abortion law.
One year on, Abortion Without Borders is helping five times more Polish women to obtain an abortion than a year ago, received calls from 32,888 people (compared to less than 6,000 the year before), supported 1,544 to travel for an abortion in another country at a cost of €297,497 (covering medical abortion pills, procedures in clinics, travel, accommodation, Covid tests and more), answered 986 queries about the morning-after pill, helped 111 with self-managed second trimester abortions, and provided legal advice to 363 others.
Some are scared because they believe, incorrectly, that it is not legal to travel abroad for an abortion or to take abortion pills at home (both are legal). Before the law changed, 98% of the 1,000-2,000 abortions carried out each year in Poland were for fetal indications, which is what is no longer accessible. The situation has not gone from good to bad, but from extremely limited to almost impossible.
Abortion in cases where there is a risk to life or health is still technically legal in Poland, but it is extremely difficult to get – and this is underscored by the three tragic deaths of pregnant women in the last year alone.
SOURCE: Press release from Abortion Support Network, 27 January 2022 ; VISUAL by Grzegorz Celejewski/Agencja Wyborcza.pl