New abortion law in Poland rejected
Poland's abortion laws are among the strictest in Europe, only allowing women to abort a pregnancy in cases of rape or incest. Many had hoped the new government would liberalize this near-total ban.
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00:00Natalia Broniarczuk had an abortion when she was 28 years old,
00:06which is forbidden in Poland.
00:08But she says she had to do it.
00:11From the beginning, from the moment when I saw the positive pregnancy test,
00:17in my body there was a huge no.
00:21Not this moment, not this partner, not with the housing situation.
00:28I was leaving at this moment.
00:32Natalia says that 11 years ago there was almost no information
00:36about how to access safe abortion pills.
00:39But when she got them and the pregnancy was terminated,
00:42she felt relief and in charge of her life.
00:47It's that event which led her to becoming an activist for women's rights
00:51and one of the founders of a group which calls itself Poland's Abortion Dream Team.
00:56They run a 24-hour hotline to give advice to an average of 130 people who call every day.
01:02They also supply abortion pills to women who want them.
01:06They're doing it on this day, here in the Polish parliament, as a kind of protest,
01:11while MPs debate a controversial law on whether to liberalize
01:14one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe.
01:21While they do so, anti-abortion protesters outside the parliament pray
01:25and display pictures of dead fetuses too graphic for us to show.
01:32They have their, you know, beliefs and obsessions,
01:35but I think that the real enemy is here.
01:39The real enemy is right-wing politicians.
01:43And one of those right-wing politicians who voted against decriminalizing abortion
01:47is Sebastian Kaleta.
01:49I think it's evil. I think it's taking life.
01:52I think it's taking innocent life.
01:55When you speak to women who are having an abortion or have had one,
01:59what do you say to them?
02:02In fact, I never spoke to women who had abortion,
02:05but I spoke to women who think about their position on this issue.
02:13For Natalia's fellow activist Justyna Widzinska, that's exactly the problem,
02:18a lack of discourse.
02:20She herself has actually been convicted of criminal offenses
02:23for supporting a woman to have an abortion
02:25and is trying to appeal her eight-month community service sentence.
02:29I was just a person who was helping others,
02:32and then I've been in a court standing in front of the government.
02:40So yes, it was scary.
02:42They're disappointed the Polish MPs narrowly just voted down
02:46a more liberal abortion bill.
02:48But they were expecting this and are ready to hit the road
02:51in their special van for a summer tour.
02:56Heading north to the coast towards the Baltic Sea,
02:59outside of the more liberal capital of Warsaw.
03:07They set up a table, tell the public about their service
03:11and give out merchandise.
03:15A lot of people in Poland support what they're doing.
03:18People don't talk about it because it's still like taboo,
03:23but it shouldn't be.
03:25It should be something absolutely, completely normal for those women.
03:32Not everyone is happy about their presence on the square here in Sopot, however.
03:38I'm devastated and terrified because for me it's not just killing a child,
03:43it's a living life.
03:45Not just mutilating a woman who undergoes an abortion,
03:48but above all it's the killing of reason and logical thinking.
03:52Such events terrify me.
03:57Natalia says this kind of interaction is totally normal
04:00and that they will continue no matter what.
04:03We do not work to convince people who are against abortion.
04:08We are for the people who might need an abortion.
04:11And we respect that someone can have a different opinion,
04:15but we know that if you are in an unwanted pregnancy,
04:19sometimes you put your opinions aside and still decide to have an abortion.
04:25And we are for this kind of people.
04:28And that's the message Natalia wants to spread across Poland.