International

Abortion activist in Poland illegally dispenses abortion pills, faces prison

Poland, abortion

A pro-abortion activist in Poland is being charged with violating the nation’s pro-life laws after she gave abortion pills to a woman illegally. According to The Guardian, she is the first pro-abortion activist to face such charges in the pro-life country.

Justyna Wydrzyńska is associated with the pro-abortion group Aborcyjny Dream Team (ADT), which works to frame abortion in a positive light and teach women how to commit self-managed abortions. She describes herself as an abortionist on the group’s website. If she is found guilty of illegally aiding in an abortion, she faces up to three years in prison.

“I could be treated like most other people in this situation and be given a suspended six-month sentence, or they might want to make an example out of me and send me to jail, maybe even for years,” she told The Guardian.

Abortion is legal in Poland only in cases of rape or incest or when there is a risk to the mother’s health or life. Until January 2021, it had also been allowed for discriminatory reasons in cases of prenatal diagnosis of the baby. In reality, the homicide of children yet to be born is never necessary, and killing a human being for having a disability is the worst form of discrimination.

Women who undergo illegal abortions in the nation won’t face charges; only the person who carries out the abortion would face charges. Allegedly, in February 2020, Wydrzyńska sent abortion pills (mifepristone and misoprostol) she had at her home to a woman who had contacted her for help with an abortion. However, when the pills arrived at the woman’s house, the woman’s husband allegedly called the police. The woman miscarried her baby, allegedly due to the stress of the investigation. Just over a year later, police arrived at Wydrzyńska’s home and confiscated the abortion pills she had, along with her computers.

READ: Angry abortion supporter in Poland attacks driver of pro-life group’s van

“The woman was 12 weeks pregnant and experiencing domestic violence,” said Wydrzyńska. “I had my abortion at 12 weeks and I have also been in an abusive relationship. I know what it means to be in this situation. Helping her was my first human response.”

However, abortion is not the solution to abuse or domestic violence. A victim of abuse needs help to escape the relationship and resources for victims of domestic violence, not pills to kill her child. This simply helps to make the woman an oppressor of her own child, then leaving her in a dangerous relationship where she could become pregnant again and seek another abortion. Abortion does not end abuse; it perpetuates it.

The abortion pill regimen has been found to be four times more dangerous for women than a first-trimester surgical abortion. Sending pills to a woman with no true knowledge of either gestational age or of possible ectopic pregnancy puts her at increased risk of hemorrhage, incomplete abortion, infection, and even death. When ADT sends women the abortion pill, they do not know if the person who will be taking the abortion pill is the person who is requesting it. An abusive partner could be forcing a woman to have an abortion against her will.

Wydrzyńska’s trial is scheduled to begin next week, and ADT launched an online campaign #IamJustyna to show support and attempt to gather international support for their efforts to spread and legalize abortion.

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