Will abortion be banned in Poland?

Today, Wednesday, the Polish parliament is debating a law that would ban abortion and make sex education at schools a punishable offence. Human rights organisations are fiercely criticising the government and accusing it of taking advantage of the fact that public protest is not possible in the current lockdown. People are instead using posters, car windshields and windows to express their opposition to the legislation. Polish media join in the protest.

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Gazeta Wyborcza (PL) /

Kaczyński as unscrupulous as ever

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński will stop at nothing to achieve power, Gazeta Wyborcza rails:

“Kaczyński appears to consider it necessary to take control of women and their childbearing role and to make them instruments of national glory in order to become the ruler of an independent Poland - a country that is isolated from Europe. So we are not surprised that the government finds it so important to criminalise abortion and render women incapable of action. This is why it is raising the issue in the midst of the pandemic. ... Kaczyński's political 'genius' consists in his ability to exploit everything politically: the death, tragedy, health and lives of people - and even the position of women.”

Krytyka Polityczna (PL) /

This is just the beginning

The ban on abortion is just one item among many on the agenda of ultraconservative interest groups, author Klementyna Suchanov comments in Polityka Krytyczna:

“This is how the strategy works: first you circulate minor, less dramatic pieces of information to test the waters and see how far you can go. We know from the documents of Agenda Europe, a group of fundamentalist lobbyists who want to change the legislation of European countries, that they even want to ban divorce. There are many other wishes on the list: a ban on abortion, a ban on contraception, the withdrawal of rights for LGBT people. In any case I'm sure the topic of divorce will soon be on the table again.”