Piekło kobiet (or) A woman’s hell is where her choice is taken away from her

 Read in Greek

I first saw the red thunder sign in some of my friends’ social media profiles. As a not polish speaking person with little to none access to local media (no TV either, I did not yet develop in my almost 5 years the taste for polish ‘lektor’[1]), unproudly I admit, I tend to be the last to know about news of the day.

I immediately investigated the meaning behind it and in couple of minutes absorbed all possible sources of news my eyes could get and the more I read the more I felt the anger burning inside me.

There were major protests taking place in the whole Poland related the latest anti-abortion decision of the Constitutional Tribunal (acting as a Supreme Court in Poland) held on 22^nd October 2020. Until that moment, abortion in Poland was largely out ruled and allowed only in few limited cases, one of which was permanent and irreversible lethal defects, which would lead to the death of fetus as late stage of pregnancy or shortly after giving birth. Devastatingly, the Tribunal ruled that ‘the admissibility of termination of pregnancy in the event of severe disability or disease of the fetus is inconsistent with the Constitution’[2], provoking massive protests in the whole country for months, disrupted by the lockdowns but yet very intense and persistent (especially during the months of October and November).[3]

Even though the scale and duration of the protest was unlike others in the country, it was not the first time women protests took place in Poland in recent years, since the election of conservative party PiS (Law and Justice) in 2015, which came with an agenda to reinforce and change the laws.

 

Total ban on abortion

 

I remember vividly the ‘Black Monday’ feminist protests in 2016. More than 100.000 people marched in Warsaw as well as in around 150 cities in Poland and also in other major cities internationally, to name few: Brussels, Berlin, London[4]. People dressed in all black to protest against the anti-abortion draft law of 450.000 signatures, which would not only totally ban abortion, but would introduce as well up to 5 years jail for women who would have an abortion as well as legal sanctions for the assisting doctors.[5] In the meantime, when such law was taken into legislation process, the draft law for legalizing abortion which had 215.000 signatures was rejected. The new piece of legislation did not pass, but the threat remained very real.

With Catholic Church gathering children and anti-abortion supporters singing in front of main squares in various cities to ‘protect life’ and displaying portraits of John Paul II and Mother Teresa as the two personalities protecting children, there was a very heavy air around the topic since 2016.

Nowadays, after the recent protest, the ‘ad war’ continues and you can still see the anti-abortion propaganda in Poland, with huge banners of very graphical fetuses images with heartbreaking anti-abortion messages in the whole country.
And in a catholic country like Poland, where as a woman your fate is somehow hanging on between the moral or religious views of a gynecologist to prescribe the emergency birth control and those of the government, the overall pressure and oppression over your own body and having a choice of free will was exhaustive enough.

Although currently it is still possible to get the procedure in case of mother’s life health, or due to extreme cases such as rape or incest, the recent decision of the Constitutional Tribunal makes Poland one of the few countries in Europe with an almost total ban on abortion and women’s right to choose not giving birth. Although almost 98%[6] of abortions in Poland have been conducted because of fetal defects.

The consequences as usual in such unhuman decisions will be mostly suffered from low income and lesser educated pregnant women, who cannot run to neighbor countries such as Slovakia (majority of cases)[7], Germany or Czechia to perform the abortion due to the lack of financial resources for an intervention, or not enough information on seeking out help. However, with the pandemic hitting the borders and closing Poland, the decision became a national threat that lit the spark in hundreds of thousands of people.

 

Massive protests in the whole country

 

The special spirt of the women protests of 2020, lays in the fact that even though they were a series of protests programmed and organized by the joint effort of the human rights activist organization ‘Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet’ (National women strike) in Poland which operated as organizer and providing helpdesks[8], they led a life on their own resulting in people from all backgrounds, religions and genders taking over the streets with chants like „Wypierdalać”’ (translating as: ‘Fuck off’), or ‘Jebać PiS’ (referring to PiS, ruling party in Poland, translated as: ‘Fuck PiS’), ”To jest wojna” ( ‘This is war’), “Piekło kobiet” (‘Woman’s hell’).

I remember vividly participating with my closest polish friend (male), in the ‘Roadblock’ protest in Warsaw, which took place on 26 October 2020. The protesters blocked the traffic in all the main streets and they were peacefully gathering from all possible directions of Warsaw. Majority of them respected the mandatory masks in public places regulations, and it was easily noticeable that the crowd had its own voice, uncoordinated, diverse and receiving great support even from the stucked drivers, that were making noise with their car horns or motorcycle engines to show support of the cause. You could easily notice the protest posters and banners in the cars, buses, trams, and through multiple houses’ windows in the whole center of Warsaw. There was an unspoken solidarity and respect among people protesting in the street, as well as the ones in their cars, bicycles, offices, or their balconies and windows. With protesters making noise through random kitchen supplies or megaphones, or by holding up tight the protest symbol of coat hangers, with fierce people lighting firecrackers and wearing symbolic costumes or not at all, with thousands of independent voices as well as choruses, our whole capitol raged and roared and came together to protect the rights of its women.

We started at Rondo ONZ roundabout and since the first minutes we were walking, I noticed the strong energy of the crowd gathering people from all directions marching together as we went  further, blocking the traffic on all main streets, from all directions, for few hours at least. Tram drivers were discussing outside the stopped trams and some of them were having the symbol of the protest in the front of their vehicle to show their support.

The most heartwarming observation of this protest was not the large amount of protesters, but the diversity of the crowd which shows how far human rights fight have come in 2020 and how much the feminist fight for human rights has changed in our society. There were just as much men as women, just as much teenagers and students as there were adults, and you could easily notice an increasing amount of families protesting with their children and showing them they could together force change and fight for fair laws. I turned around and I did not see a protest fueled by the opposition, or some politically driven NGOs, but people of Poland as one beating pulse, protesting to get the right to choose for themselves and their body, protecting the right of a decent life where women have a choice and newborn children are healthy and raised in an environment of love and trust.

We continued our march through Jana Pawła II street following a self-acclaimed protest ‘noiser’ girl who was beating a pot with a ladle and screaming ‘Jebać pis’ to the top of her lungs. Next, we held through Emily Plater street and Aleje Jerozolimskie where old couples were applauding the protesters and waving polish flags from their balconies and windows. We only stopped where the majority of the crowd set camp, in the Prime Minister’s office, in Ujazdowskie street, where the protest voices accumulated to the highest pitch, all kind of pan cards, colors, and chants were singed in mini vans with posters and protest materials, where culminated ‘the enough is enough’ of a series of unbreathable political agendas pushed through the lungs of polish society in recent years. Another huge gathering was also in Nowogrodzka street, next to the Headquarters of PiS, at the doorstep of the institution responsible for a series of political decisions that made Poland internationally recognized as the conservative society that is not.

 

Church police

 

On our way back we stopped in front of St. Alexander’s Church where I noticed the ‘church police’, aka religious supporters of PiS and Konfederacja (another far right political party). They were blocking the entrance of the church and unnecessarily protecting it, where in front of them there were heavily armed police troops. Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of PiS called people to defend churches from protesters at all costs[10] and he had his wish granted with a mostly male group of his followers hearing their leader religiously and heroically standing in front of churches doors to protect them from their own mothers, wives, sisters, fathers, sons, brothers protesting right across the police line. Particularly this moment, was all such a surreal scene for me coming from one of the most religiously tolerant countries in Europe, to witness such a shocking experience of a witch hunt atmosphere in the middle of Europe where religious beliefs still divide people in the 21^st century in a similar way they did centuries ago, without allowing them to see what is lost in the process.

The protests continued for weeks, until the new restrictions during holiday season arrived, but re-started in January due to worsening of the situation. On January 27, 2020, the Constitutional Tribunal lead by Julia Przyłębska published the judgment on abortion[11], and this created a new series of protests, which were withdrawn by the government announcement of a new lockdown until mid-February.

However, even if the massive protests might have stopped in the streets, I strongly believe the message of the protests was clear. Despite the uncertainty and oppression that the present reserves, the awakening has just begun, and the future of human rights protests waves in Poland is setting roots in the society and is not going anywhere anytime soon until the laws will be fair and equal to everyone. We all owe it to the present and the future of democracy and human rights, in the country located in the very beating heart of Europe.

It took a lot of work and work to write this text. By donating any amount you want, you help the authors of foreign politics to keep their effort. Your support really matters.

 

Teuta Musaraj, Warsaw

 

[1] Article source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119215016517556740

[2] Article source: https://gloswielkopolski.pl/trybunal-konstytucyjny-podjal-decyzje-zakaz-aborcji-ze-wzgledu-na-wady-plodu/ar/c1-15249810

[3] Author note: Protests on the streets were massive at the beginning (October-November), with time, protests went more into media and social media, nowadays there are almost none people protesting in a physical way.

[4] Article source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/poland-women-abortion-strike-protests-black-monday-polish-protestors-industrial-action-a7343136.html

[5] Article source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37540139

[6] Article source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54642108

[7] Article source: https://wyborcza.pl/duzyformat/1,127290,19540669,polki-jada-po-aborcje-na-slowacje.html

[8] Article source: https://oko.press/gasnacy-plomien-rewolucji-sie-odklada-refleksja-kumuluje-strajk-kobiet/

[9] Article source: https://www.rp.pl/Spor-o-aborcje/201039900-Jaroslaw-Myjak-Strajk-Kobiet-za-sumieniem-czy-za-prokuratorem.html

[10]Article source: https://polandin.com/50527519/we-have-to-defend-polish-churches-ruling-party-leader

[11] Article source: https://oko.press/nowa-wojna-z-kobietami-wyrok-zakazujacy-aborcji-opublikowany-przez-tk-analizujemy-jego-tresc/