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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Poland’s Abortion Laws vs. US Abortion laws

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Within the next two weeks to a month, the United States Supreme Court is going to give its ruling on the famous US Supreme Court Case from 1970 called “Roe vs. Wade”, which involved abortion laws in the United States.  For people who live in another country, it may be hard to understand what exactly is going on.  To put it simply, for some women, getting access to an abortion may require winning big on a Sloto Cash Bonus.

What are Poland’s abortion laws?

Currently, in 2022, Poland has the strictest abortion laws of the whole European Union.  Currently, an abortion in Poland is only legal as the result of rape/incest or a woman’s life or health is at risk.  In reality, this means that legally, around 1000 abortions are allowed in Poland per year.  But the reality is that 10% to 15% of abortions were carried out outside of Poland.  Women just traveled to another European Union country to obtain an abortion.  So for the rich, in the end, there was no restrictions on abortion.  But for the poor, who could not afford to travel to another European country and stay over for a couple of days for the procedure, there was restrictions.

Women who have an abortion are not punished.  It is the doctors or other medical personnel who carry out the abortion who are punished.  So is persuading a woman to get an abortion a criminal act.

Here is the history of abortion laws in Poland.

Before 1932, abortions were illegal even for rape/incest or saving a woman’s life.  But it was hard to enforce saving a woman’s life which resulted in the unborn child not surviving.

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In 1932, abortion became legal to save a woman’s life and in the case of rape/incest.  Poland for the first European country to do this.  This was in affect from 1932 – 1956, except for the time period of Nazi German occupation.  During that time, the law allowing unlimited abortions by Polish women was in effect from 9 March 1943 until the end of WWII.  “This was the only time in the history of Poland when abortion was legal on request, and in fact, abortion for Poles was often forced by Nazis, especially in German concentration camps.”  (My opinion:  What would one except from the Nazi German government that thought it was okay to throw babies into the air and use them as target practice.   So it is not surprising that during that time, unlimited abortions were allowed.)

In 1956, the Sejm legalised abortion in cases where the woman was experiencing “difficult living conditions”.  During the 1960s and the 1970s, it turned into abortions upon request.  During this time, people from other European countries would travel to Poland to get an abortion.

In 1990, at the end of the time of communist rule, access to abortions became more difficult.  Another major change came in 1993, when the law was further tightened, removing entirely “difficult living conditions” as a ground for abortions.  This means that access to abortions went back to in cases of rape/incest or the women’s life was in danger, as attested by two physicians.  Cases of rape/incest had to be confirmed by a prosecutor.

During this time period, fetuses with seriously and irreversibly damage health conditions, that were confirmed by two physicians, were also allowed to be aborted.  In 1996, the law was amended to allow abortion on social grounds.  In 1997, this law was struck down after a surge in abortions.

In June 2011, a bill was proposed that would ban abortions all together.  Even though Poland is a very Catholic country, many people supported easier access to abortions.  In 2020, Catholic groups pressured the government for stricter laws.  This included preventing abortions in the case of fetal abnormalities, which accounted for 98% of all abortions at the time.

This makes abortions in Poland almost impossible to get.  That means that women who want an abortion have to either travel to another European country where abortions are legal (an option for the rich) or have an illegal abortion by visiting your local illegal drug dealer (options for the poor).

“In practice it takes weeks, sometimes months,” to obtain a legal abortion, said Karolina Wieckiewicz, a lawyer and activist with the group Abortion Without Borders.  This means that when the abortion is finally approved, it will mean more suffering for the fetus and more suffering for the mother.  Remember, that at this time, 98% of all abortions were for fetuses that had severe abnormalities.  This means that the parents already made the decision that they did not want to care for the child, and in all likelihood, nobody else is going to setup and volunteer to be the parent of these children.  In other words, these children will be raised (and live their whole lives) in an unloving institution.

In October 2020, Poland made it illegal for a woman to have an abortion due to health issues with the fetus, claiming it discriminated against the fetus due to its medical status.

That means that only fetuses that resulted from rape / incest or a woman’s life is in danger were allowed.  (my opinion:  So healthy fetuses as the result of rape were allowed to be aborted.  Babies that would be easy to find a home for.  While unhealthy fetuses, which would be very unlikely to find a home for, were not allowed to be aborted.  Yea, that makes no sense to me either.  Give the death sentence to the baby for being created through rape.)  Remember, these cases were 2% of legal abortions, while birth defects were 98% of abortions.

In January 2021, these new restrictions went into affect.

At this time, Poland’s abortion laws are so “crazy” (for lack of a better word), that a 37 year old woman died, because she was carrying twins.  One of the twins died in uteri, while the other one still lived.  In the US, the dead fetus would have been removed, so that the mother and the other fetus could survive.  But in Poland, even a dead fetus cannot be aborted.

What are abortion laws in the United States?

By the common law in the early 1800s, abortion after quickening (the start of fetal movements, usually felt 15–20 weeks after conception) was not allowed but, without written statutes, the rules were ‘hazy’.

Starting in 1821, abortions became illegal after movement could be felt by the mother, between 15 – 20 weeks.  Connecticut was the first state to make it illegal, followed by 10 other states.  New York made abortions before this time a misdemeanor.

With advancements in medical knowledge, including the microscope and germ theory (things that happen in the human body that we cannot see with the naked eye), people started understanding more about the development of fetuses, which changed the view on when ‘life’ begins. But during the mid-1800s, abortions were common in the US.  During this time, 15% to 35% of all pregnancies ended in abortion during this time.

At the start of the 19th century, most abortions were from unmarried women who became pregnant out of wedlock.  But then, married women who already had a child were also seeking abortions.  This worried physicians, who were men.  Many people believed this was due to the ‘Women’s Rights Movement’.

“Even the “free love” wing of the feminist movement refused to advocate for abortion and treated the practice as an example of the hideous extremes to which modern marriage was driving women.[38] Marital rape and the seduction of unmarried women were societal ills which feminists believed caused the need to abort, as men did not respect women’s right to abstinence.”

Physicians were the loudest voices of the anti-abortion movement at this time.

By 1900, abortion was normally a felony in every state.  Some states included provisions allowing for abortion in limited circumstances, generally to protect the woman’s life or to terminate pregnancies arising from rape or incest.  If we used Poland’s numbers as a frame of reference, 98% of abortions were due to birth defects while 2% of abortions were due to a woman’s life being in danger or rape or incest.

By the 1930s, licensed physicians performed an estimated 800,000 abortions a year in the United States.  586,760 legal abortions were performed in 1972.  862,000 abortions in 2017.

So in 1930, when abortions were illegal, 800,000 abortions were performed while in 2017, when abortions were legal, 862,000 were performed.  The population in the US in 1930 was 123,202,624.  The population in the US in 2020 was 329,500,000.  So the population in the US was 3 times the amount in 2020 (abortions legal) compared to 1930 (abortions illegal), yet abortions were approximately at the same level.

Think about that …

Sources: US Supreme Court rulings related to abortions

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