#BlackFriday - European Women's Lobby

#BlackFriday

March 22, 2018

[Brussels, 22 March 2018] This week has seen a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of women in Poland, where the Government has responded to requests from religious groups for a pull-back on access to abortion services by proposing a Bill entitled “Stop Abortion” which seeks to criminalise abortion in cases of severe or fatal foetal abnormality. We recognise the anguish, pain and suffering such laws can cause for women who receive a diagnosis on an unviable pregnancy. The EWL has joined as co-signatory in a letter to the Polish Government calling on them to reconsider support for such damaging laws. More than 200 organisations from all over the world endorsed the statement. As the letter states, “Official statistics from 2016 show that in practice 96% of legal abortions in Poland are performed on these grounds. Most women in Poland who decide to end a pregnancy resulting from rape or because their health is at risk are unable to access legal abortion care in Poland and must travel outside the country to do so. This bill would further hinder women, particularly those from low-income and rural communities, from accessing safe abortion care… The European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled that the Polish government, in hindering timely access to abortion, has violated women’s rights.” We will join with the thousands of women and men expected to protest across Europe tomorrow during the #BlackFriday marches in solidarity with the women of Poland whose rights are at risk. We are calling on the Polish authorities to stand up for their women and make a clear statement that they respect our rights, our experiences and our lives. Check out the event in your city or country, this is the protest in Brussels. #solidaritywithwomeninpoland #stoptheban #ratujmykobiety #blackfriday #strajkkobiet #czarnypiatek. Check out this fundraiser to support women from smaller cities and towns come to Warsaw for the #blackfriday: https://zrzutka.pl/czarny-piatek

#solidaritywithwomeninpoland

Full letter reads: Polish Parliament Must Protect Women’s Health and Rights March 2018 We are deeply concerned by relentless attempts to roll back the reproductive rights of women in Poland. This week Poland’s parliament is debating a new draft bill entitled “Stop Abortion.” If adopted, this legislation will further limit the already restricted grounds on which women can lawfully access abortion in Poland. It will place women’s health and lives at risk and violate Poland’s international human rights obligations. We call on Members of Poland’s Parliament to listen to the voices of women across Poland and to reject this regressive legislative proposal and protect women’s health and human rights. Poland already has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is only lawful to safeguard the life or health of women, in situations of severe fetal anomaly or where the pregnancy results from rape or another criminal act such as incest. Even in those situations in which abortion is legal, multiple barriers combine to limit women’s access in practice. The latest “Stop Abortion” proposal seeks to ban abortion in situations where there is a severe fetal anomaly. If the “Stop Abortion” bill is passed it will mean that abortion care will no longer be available to women in Poland when they receive a diagnosis of a severe or fatal fetal anomaly. Official statistics from 2016 show that in practice 96% of legal abortions in Poland are performed on these grounds. Most women in Poland who decide to end a pregnancy resulting from rape or because their health is at risk are unable to access legal abortion care in Poland and must travel outside the country to do so. This bill would further hinder women, particularly those from low-income and rural communities, from accessing safe abortion care. Since 2011, Poland’s government has launched repeated attacks on women’s reproductive rights. In 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 draft legislative proposals were introduced that contained total or near total bans on abortion. Following massive public protests, such as the Black Protests in 2016, these draft bills were defeated. Prohibiting women from accessing safe, legal abortion violates a number of human rights enshrined in international law, including the rights to life, health and health care, nondiscrimination and equality, privacy, and freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled that the Polish government, in hindering timely access to abortion, has violated women’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Numerous international human rights bodies, including the UN Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Committee Against Torture, have called on governments to remove barriers to abortion services and ensure access to safe and legal abortion.

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