BRUSSELS, March 24: The way Justyna Wydrzynska sees it, Ania was a victim of domestic violence just like she was. Another child and she’d be trapped. It was 2020. The pandemic lockdowns. Everyone worried that Poland’s borders might close, halting travel and postal services.
Looking to help someone she identified with, Wydrzynska gave Ania the abortion pills she kept on hand for herself.
“I just sent the pills, just shared them, because I thought it would be good for her to have this tool and decide whatever she wants (and can) leave without another kid and be able to get free from this violent relationship,” Wydrzynska told The Associated Press in Brussels on Thursday.
“I knew for myself, the moment when I got pregnant again, living with a violent partner, that if I got stuck with another child, I will never (escape) from this marriage,” she said, explaining why she first bought the tablets. “I really see the same story in our lives.” But Poland’s justice system sees the situation differently.
Last week, a Warsaw court convicted Wydrzynska of abetting abortion by providing Ania – the name used by Polish media to identify the domestic violence victim who already had one child – with abortion pills. Ania’s partner turned them both in.
Abortion is illegal in almost all cases in Poland, a predominantly Catholic country with a deeply conservative government. Rare exceptions are granted when a woman’s life or health might be in danger, or if a pregnancy results from rape or incest. Ending a pregnancy due to congenital defects of the fetus was allowed until a top court ruled in 2020 that those grounds were unconstitutional.
Some Polish women travel to countries like the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands to obtain abortions. Others order pills from abroad to terminate their pregnancies. Possessing abortion pills, and taking them, is not outlawed, but providing the medication, or helping someone to obtain it, is a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.
Wydrzynska, a mother of three, co-founded the Abortion Dream Team in 2016. The grassroots organisation provides Polish women with information and support, including how to acquire abortion pills. Human rights activists see her case as a precedent. They fear it will discourage others like her from helping women to terminate their pregnancies.
“Justyna is the first activist to be convicted for providing abortion support. The Polish authorities’ prosecution against her is shameful,” said Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office. (AP)
