"My body is my business": CzarnyProtest participants ban on abortions in Poland
October 3, Black Monday was held in Poland- a mass action, the participants of which are protesting against a total ban on abortions in the country. Women boycotted work and studies and, dressed in black, took to the streets. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the squares of the country's large cities, despite the cold and rain. In Warsaw, more than 20 thousand people reached the central square (according to estimates of the organizers - 30 thousand), many came with children and dogs. On the eve of the protests took place in other cities around the world - women from other countries also dressed in black and came to the Polish embassies to show solidarity with the protesters.
“Black Monday” - continuation of the #CzarnyProtest (“Black Protest”) action, which was started by Polish users in social networks. Now abortions in Poland are allowed only with the consent of two medical specialists - in cases where there is a danger to the life of the mother or if the pregnancy was the result of rape. If the ban comes into force, any intentional termination of pregnancy will become illegal: women who undergo an abortion will face up to five years in prison - just like the doctors who performed the procedure. Critics of the law say that women whose pregnancy ended in miscarriage will have to prove that they did not have an abortion.
Protesters in Poland are not going to stop on one action - the new one is scheduled for October 9. We talked with five women from Poland who participated in the protest and were sympathetic to them.
I believe that the law that we have now is not even a compromise, it is a ban that does not give women any choice. There were protests even when the present law was introduced, and what the parliament is trying to hold now is just insane. The law should leave the woman the right to choose. I could not take part in today's strike, and my employer forbids us to give interviews on political topics, but I sincerely support those who came to the square today, I would like to go there myself.
The state has no right to deprive women of freedom of choice. We do not force anyone to have an abortion - we stand for a choice. The new law takes away this choice. I would like the law to be changed to a more liberal one, but I even agree to accept the "compromise" option that we still have. Now a woman can not do anything, even if the embryo has very serious genetic abnormalities and it will still die a few days after birth. It is cruel to force women to have children who will die immediately anyway. If they themselves make this choice, that is their business, but the choice must be. There is nothing immoral in the fact that a woman can refuse to give birth to such a child. While I can not even talk about any other details of the law, such as mandatory waiting and the like. I just do not want to allow abortion to be banned completely. Under current Polish law, a woman cannot do an abortion simply because she does not want this child — she can terminate the pregnancy only if she is raped or if there is a threat to her life or the life of the child. For me, this is absurd, unacceptable in the modern state.
Many people for some reason think that women who have come out to protest today are in favor of abortion. In fact, we do not want this - we want the right to choose. To freely dispose of your body is one of the basic human rights. I believe that it is important to have this choice, and no one has the right to interfere in the decision of a person - especially the church. This problem has united many people. I do not understand why many women oppose the right to an abortion - it seems to me that they simply did not understand the question. If a woman becomes pregnant, it is her business, not the church; and the fact that the church takes this position has pushed many away from it.
The law that is in force with us now is one of the most severe, and there is no place to be stricter. But each case is individual, and each woman must have a choice. I know that some girls hang out at parties, and then become pregnant and see the problem in abortions. This is very irresponsible; I believe that we need sex education. What we were taught was just stupid and very old-fashioned: "Boys and girls meet, blah blah blah ...". Instead of prohibiting abortion, it is necessary to introduce the right sex education.
Our politicians love to show care about unborn children, but as soon as a child is born, they forget about him. Child benefits are meager - 500 PLN per child. At the same time, single mothers are not given any money - but it seems to me that it should be the opposite, that money should be given to those who need it most. Our state says it fights abortions this way, but in fact it just spends money. Today there are a lot of guys from my school here on the square in front of the PiS party headquarters, we all missed the lessons. And at school they went all week in black.
I came here, telling the boss that I am ill. My friend today was supposed to go to a new job in our law office, but instead she’s here with me. We just could not come. This new law is completely inhuman, it does not solve anything, and it should not be passed. We would very much like to have more liberal laws, like in other countries.
We came a large company of girlfriends, try to find each other in the square. By the way, one of us escaped from work in secret - her boss supports a conservative policy. But practically only women work in his company, and they disagree with him. It will be interesting to see how many people eventually will not come to work under various pretexts. We are very pleased that so many women from other countries support us. Thank them so much!
Today I came here with my son - let him look. My boss let me go; I work in a non-profit organization, and I did not even need to ask for it specifically. I am satisfied with the law that we have, but I do not want abortion to be banned completely, as this new law suggests. I am not a supporter of abortions, and it would be better if they didn’t exist, but it’s still impossible to completely take away the right to choose. I do not want abortions to be done quickly and simply - but you cannot force people to give birth. Let women give birth when they want. I have three children myself, and I am pleased. But it was my deliberate choice - I gave birth to them when I wanted, and not when I was forced.