Poland: Regression on abortion access harms women Amnesty International

That sparked the largest protests in Poland in decades, which were led by Women’s Strike. There have since been cases of pregnant women dying even though a risk to the woman’s life remains a legal grounds for abortion under the current law. Women’s rights advocates say such cases occur because doctors are afraid to terminate pregnancies even when the woman’s life might be at risk, fearing legal consequences. The Commission and EU member states should act to protect and support women’s rights defenders and organizations in Poland. That is why — together with the socialist fraction in the parliament — we’ve been working on an EU Charter of Women’s Rights. Something that will guarantee standardized access to sexual and reproductive health care, including legal and safe abortion, in addition to key socioeconomic and political rights. The worrisome phenomenon of rolling back women’s sexual reproductive health rights isn’t exclusive to Poland.

“I am really a sincere supporter of women’s equality, but I am not a supporter of women pretending to be men, and men pretending to be women,” Kaczynski said. Young women in particular have increasingly been flocking to defense-related activities, such as Rifleman Associations or volunteer-defense programs in schools. Since 2000, the annual Bilan social volume has been analysing the state of play of social policy in the European Union during the preceding year, the better to forecast developments in the new one. Co-produced by the European Social Observatory and the European Trade Union Institute , the new edition is no exception. In the context of multiple crises, the authors find that social policies gained in ambition in 2022. At the same time, the new EU economic framework, expected for 2023, should be made compatible with achieving the EU’s social and ‘green’ objectives.

Polish leader blames low birthrate on women using alcohol The comments by governing party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski that tied women’s alcohol consumption to low birthrates quickly drew criticism from opposition politicians, activists and celebrities. In July, the European Court of Human Rights announced that it will address complaints from Polish women find more at https://absolute-woman.com/european-women/polish-women/ who may be victims of violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms due to the Constitutional Tribunal’s abortion ruling. Poland’s government has failed to effectively implement previous ECtHR judgments concerning access to lawful abortion despite repeated calls and a March judgment by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, whose independence and legitimacy is profoundly eroded, is widely acknowledged as politically compromised. On October 22, 2020, it ruled that abortion on grounds of “severe and irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the fetus’ life” was unconstitutional. The government brought the case to the tribunal after parliament failed to adopt legislation with the same effect. Those who do, however, stretch the “risk of life to the pregnant woman” clause in the Polish law to justify abortions or simply say the fetuses died as a result of miscarriages, a member of Poland’s abortion underground said.

  • The ruling eliminated one of the only remaining legal grounds for abortion under Poland’s highly restrictive law and its entry into force means that there is now effectively a near-total ban on abortion in Poland.
  • Women struggling with symptoms related to leg heaviness, pain, and swelling may have experienced not only stigma and mistreatment, but also failure in their attempts of misunderstood self-management which could put them at risk of developing depression.
  • Each of the guidelines emphasizes the importance of self-management as part of a comprehensive and effective treatment of lipedema .
  • In practice, however, it is almost impossible for those eligible for a legal abortion to obtain one.
  • In addition, as the Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality , we carried out a mission to Warsaw and held a hearing with the representatives of the families of the women who died because of this draconian law.
  • Increased knowledge on the condition will allow for further studies and effective treatment (with additional focus given to self-management).

Both the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission have found that the Constitutional Tribunal does not meet fair trial requirements due to its lack of independence from the legislative and the executive powers. One year after the ruling of Poland’s discredited Constitutional Tribunal banning access to abortion in almost all circumstances took effect, its devastating impact on the lives of women and all those in need of abortion care continues. The ruling has increased the extreme barriers women seeking access to abortion face and has had tragic consequences for many of them and their families. The Commission should urgently implement the mechanism tying access to EU funds to respect for EU values and continue its commitment to tie EU Recovery Funds to rule of law guarantees. EU member states should advance and expand scrutiny under Article 7.1 of the Treaty on European Union by adopting specific recommendations or voting to determine that there is a clear risk of a serious breach of EU values in Poland, as has been called for also by European Parliament. In September 2021, the same group introduced a new civic initiative “Stop Abortion” bill to parliament. It would consider abortion at any stage a homicide and would bring criminal penalties against women who have abortions, and anyone who assists them, with punishment of up to 25 years in prison.

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Just as in the U.S., the battle in Poland over abortion “is a huge ideological war between a democratic side and https://1001tunisie.com/persons/korean-womens-international-network/ a fundamentalist side that wants to keep the patriarchy in place, that resents the advances women have made,” Kacpura said. The Polish government is aware that is happening, the members said, but it often turns a blind eye, because there is a shortage of doctors, and it fears a backlash from women both at home and around the world.

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Anti-abortion demonstrators often use graphic imagery in their call for a total ban on abortions. In February 2017, they picketed in front of a library in Wroclaw, Poland, where activists had gathered to lecture women about pharmacological abortion options. Kaczyński’s national-conservative Law and Justice party has made raising fertility rates in Poland’s rapidly ageing society one of its flagship goals, introducing a number of social programmes designed to financially support families.

There are more than 9,000 women employed in the Polish police, composing 9.23 percent of police employees. Most Polish policewomen work in posts that are occupied by civil or administrative officers in Western countries, so it is difficult to make any comparisons. Also, the number of women recruited to work within the police has declined to approximately 100 a year. The fact that there are women in the police does not mean they are accepted by their male colleagues or superiors. The most frequent worry of female students at the Police Academy is that after graduating, they will be put behind desks and make coffee until their retirement.

“Restrictive abortion laws such as Poland’s are contrary to international and European human rights standards and public health guidelines. Our organizations’ interventions seek to highlight critical human rights aspects of such restrictive laws, and we are proud to support efforts to hold Poland accountable for these ongoing human rights violations” said the organizations.

During World War II, the Legion sent food and clothing to Polish prisoners of war, and to the Polish Army Hospital in Great Britain in the form of medical equipment, hospital beds, and ambulances. “The cretinous words of an old geezer about Polish women that women do not give birth to children because they drink , this is only a fragment of our reality,” the Women’s Strike wrote Monday on Facebook. In addition, as the Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality , we carried out a mission to Warsaw and held a hearing with the representatives of the families of the women who died because of this draconian law. Her physician told her she was crazy, says Kaja, and that stopping the medication could harm her pregnancy. Kaja realized that ending https://cauthangkinh.okk.vn/100-years-of-womens-suffrage-in-germany-in-custodia-legis-law-librarians-of-congress.html the pregnancy was what she needed to do for her own health, but she also knew her doctor could never help her. She had experienced two miscarriages in the past, and was hopeful for her third pregnancy.

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A women’s rights group in Poland on Monday urged people to demonstrate after the country’s ruling party leader claimed that Poland’s low birthrate is partly caused by young women drinking too much alcohol. Many of the recent protests are inspired by the success of the massive crowds that gathered on Oct. 3, 2016, when Poland’s parliament considered a bill that would ban abortion in all cases except when the mother’s life is threatened. The bill had strong initial support, but three days before the vote, women’s rights groups organized what is now considered to be one of the largest protests in the history of the country. Women participating in the protests — called the “black protests” or Black Monday — planned to skip work and wear all black. The approach was inspired by similar protests among Icelandic women in Oct. 1975, when an estimated 90% of women refused to work or do house chores to call out wage discrepancies and unfair employment practices in the country.

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