By Vanessa Gera | Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland — Polish abortion rights activists opened a center across from the parliament building in Warsaw on Saturday where women can go to have abortions with pills, either alone or with other women.
Opening the center on International Women’s Day across from the legislature was a symbolic challenge to authorities in the traditionally Roman Catholic nation, which has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws.
A small but loud group of protesters demonstrated outside the “Abotak” center as activists gathered inside for its inauguration. They blasted loud sounds of babies’ cries and held huge, gruesome posters.
“We will never allow people to kill Polish children on demand” said one of the anti-abortion protesters, Marek Krawczyk, as he held a rosary high. “We warn all Polish politicians not to introduce disgraceful decisions.”
The abortion rights activists with Abortion Dream Team had private security guards standing at the door, while police also formed a barrier between protesters and the center.
“We came here to claim the space and to remind you in your face that women have abortions in Poland and we are not going to wait for your empty promises,” one of the activists, Kinga Jelińska said, a message directed at the country’s politicians. She wore a mint green sweatshirt with the words “abortion is normal.”
Jelińska said it was the first stationary abortion center in Poland, but that centers like it have been founded in Latin American countries with restrictive laws like Mexico and Argentina.
She and her colleagues said that it will be a safe place for women who prefer not to have abortions alone in their bathrooms at home. Women can show up for advice, or to have abortions together, or in a space alone.
Asked if the center would provide the pills themselves, Jelińska said that was between the activists and the women who need abortions.
One of the activists who launched the center is Justyna Wydrzyńska, who was found guilty by a court in 2023 of abetting an abortion. That ruling was recently annulled and a retrial was ordered.
The organization has been trying to destigmatize abortion in a society where they say abortions are common, most carried out by women at home with pills, but abortion remains a taboo topic. They have also been pushing for a change in the law, but without success.
The country’s centrist prime minister, Donald Tusk, came to power in an election in 2023 in which he vowed to liberalize the country’s abortion law. But the coalition he leads spans a broad ideological divide, with lawmakers on the left who want to legalize abortion and conservatives strongly opposed.
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Last year he acknowledged that he lacks the backing in parliamen t to change the law. Allowing abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy had been one of his campaign promises.
Under the current law, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape or incest or if the woman’s life or health is at risk. A new restriction took effect under the previous conservative government removing a right to abortion in the case of fetal deformities. That sparked massive street protests.
In practice, activists say, many women have abortions on their own with pills obtained from abroad.
