The plight of many women at the time was worsened by travel restrictions as the second wave of the pandemic took hold. Many medics and clinics were feeling the “chilling effect” of unclear legal consequences. Many are now women who wanted to get pregnant, but learnt that the foetus they are carrying is seriously, often incurably and lethally, damaged.Įven before the ruling entered into force in January, many women were already finding it difficult to find a doctor at a Polish public hospital, an activist from Ciocia Basia tells Notes from Poland. Instead, its impact has been to change the profile of those going abroad to seek terminations. The data are further evidence that, as indicated by information from the World Health Organisation and the Polish Academy of Sciences’ bioethics committee presented to the Polish parliament, the tightened abortion law has not curbed the number of abortions. Poland asked Czech government to prevent “abortion tourism” by Polish women One pro-choice organisation that sends abortion pills by post – Women Help Women – says it has responded to over 46,000 messages from Poland and provided help to 10,000 people since the Constitutional Tribunal ruling, reports Euronews. Services include assistance with transport, accommodation and various formalities.

The Ciocia Basia collective is now helping around 20 Polish women who come to Germany each month and many more on the phone or through emails – double the figure from before the ruling. “Most often destinations for the second trimester are the Netherlands, the UK and Spain, while for pregnancies at an earlier stage it is the Czech Republic and Germany.” “Undoubtedly there is an increase in abortion migrations abroad,” Kamila Ferenc, a lawyer from Federa, tells Notes from Poland. Since October, they have already fielded over 2,000. Before the ruling they had a few hundred calls to their helpline a year. Since October, the organisation’s helpline has been called almost 7,000 times, while altogether over 18,000 people have turned to them through various channels – and the numbers are still increasing.Īnother women’s rights organisation – the Federation for Women and Family Planning (Federa) – has noticed a similar trend. “We are buying each other abortions as the state has nothing to do with it, the state doesn’t care,” reads Abortion Without Borders’s website. Half of them admitted that their reason for seeking an abortion was the discovery of congenital disorders in the foetus.įinancial support to these women has amounted to 420,000 zloty (€92,000), gathered through crowdfunding and individual donations. Since that ruling, one organisation alone – Abortions Without Borders (Aborcja Bez Granic) – has helped 650 women in Poland to obtain abortions abroad. Protests return to Polish streets as anti-abortion ruling finally goes into force

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