A Polish activist was sentenced Tuesday by a Warsaw court to community service for assisting with an abortion, an unprecedented case in Poland, a country with one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in Europe.
Justyna Wydrzynska, who supplied a pregnant woman with abortion pills, was found ‘guilty of aiding’ the practice of voluntary termination of pregnancy and given ‘eight months of community service at the rate of 30 hours per month,’ the news agency wrote on Twitter. organization. Abortion Dream Team, of which she is one of the co-founders.
“I don’t feel guilty, I don’t accept this judgment,” Justyna Wydrzynska told reporters as she left the court, announcing that she would appeal and continue to help the women. “Nothing has changed,” she added.
The reasons for the court decision have not been made public.
“A hole”
“Today’s ruling represents a new abyss in the crackdown on reproductive rights in Poland: a setback for which women and girls – and those who stand up for their rights – are paying a heavy price,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, in a press release.
“This case sets a dangerous precedent in Poland, where abortion is almost completely banned, and provides a chilling glimpse of the consequences of such restrictive laws,” he added.
Lawyer Anna Bergiel, a lawyer for Justyna Wydrzynska, said the court wanted to send “a message to society that such behavior, such help, will not be tolerated.”
For an association of ultra-Catholic jurists, “the defendant, as well as the entire environment of activists (for the right to practice) abortion, has spent years promoting abortion, including medical abortion, flouting the law in Poland.”
“The ruling in the Justyna Wydrzynska case must therefore be considered as an important step towards real respect for the right to life of unborn children in force in Poland,” insisted Magdalena Majkowska, from Ordo Iuris, in a press release. .
Up to three years in prison
The activist risked up to three years in prison for having “provided assistance” with this abortion and “having put medicines on the market without authorization”, according to Polish legislation, one of the strictest in Europe on this matter.
According to Natalia Broniarczyk, an activist with the Abortion Dream Team, the prosecutor asked for a less severe sentence “because we are in an election year”, pointing out that the majority of Poles are now in favor of a liberalization of the ‘abortion’ law.
According to a poll conducted at the beginning of March, 83.7% of Poles are in favor of such liberalization. Only 11.5% of those surveyed would like to maintain the current legal status.
“This is an absurd and shameful trial,” wrote Polish MEP Robert Biedron on Twitter: “The Polish state has failed and the fanatics have won another battle.”
In 2020, a woman dans sa 12e semane de grossesse et voulant l’interruptre a demand de l’aide à Justyna Wydrzynska, dont le collectif Abortion Dream Team qu’elle a contribué à créer resendique avoir rendu posibles 44,000 avortements en 2022, soit 107 per day.
Previously, this woman wanted to go to an abortion clinic in Germany, but her husband prevented her from going. While she was waiting at her house for a package of pills, she called the police who confiscated the medication and opened an investigation. Subsequently, the woman miscarried.
Source: BFM TV
