Polish Woman Becomes First to Face Trial for Violating Country’s Abortion Law
Under Poland's new abortion law, only abortion providers are criminalized, and not the patients on whom the procedure is carried out.
Landwebs
Justyna Wydrzyńska, a member of Aborcyjny Dream Team (ADT), an abortion advocacy group and resource provider, is the first person to be charged in Poland for breaking the country’s strict abortion law by providing miscarriage-inducing tablets to a pregnant woman experiencing domestic violence and is due to face trial next week, reports The Guardian. Wydrzyńska is charged with illegally aiding an abortion and faces up to three years in prison if she is found guilty.
Polish law criminalizes only abortion providers and not the patients on whom the procedure is carried out, and in January, 2021, the country introduced legislation that made it all but impossible for women to access a safe termination legally. In late February 2020, Wydrzyńska sent pills she had at home directly to a woman who had contacted her; but the day they arrived, police officers – reportedly called by her husband – arrived at the woman’s house. The stress of the subsequent police investigation caused her to miscarry. The woman had previously tried to travel to Germany for the procedure but was prevented from doing so by her husband.
