A woman calling herself the “abortion fairy” is working to ensure Ukrainian refugees in Poland have access to abortion.
Nastya Podorozhnya, who is Ukrainian, moved to Poland in 2014, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). After becoming a victim of sexual violence, she had to face authorities, which she struggled with. “I found out then how difficult it was for a female immigrant to recount her ordeal in a foreign language,” she said.
After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Podorozhnya launched a channel on the Telegram app, which she named “Martynka” after her niece. And at first, she was merely offering logistical support: help with translations, securing the right to stay in Poland, mental health support, and more. “Martynka is your friend in Poland – if you don’t have anyone here, Martynka always has your back,” she said.
But Martynka soon moved into helping Ukrainian refugees obtain abortions, too.
Pro-abortion groups, like Planned Parenthood, have already complained about Ukrainian refugees being unable to undergo an abortion in Poland, where preborn children are protected from abortion unless the mother’s life is at risk, or the pregnancy is a result of rape.
Both are something refugees could experience; women are at high risk of suffering sexual violence as refugees and during times of war, and women have also reported being pushed into premature labor due to the stress of the conflict. And abortion activists are claiming Ukrainian women are shocked to find out Poland’s pro-life status, despite being a neighboring country.
“Very often they are stunned, shocked or in disbelief,” Podorozhnya said. “Women in Ukraine are not used to having their reproductive rights curtailed. The problem that exists in Ukraine is one of insufficient awareness … but not of access to such procedures.”
Niko Doroshenko, another pro-abortion activist with Martynka, insinuated that Poland’s pro-life laws make it an unsafe refuge for women. “They think they’ve arrived in a safe country, that they fled the nightmare – but their nightmare continues,” she said.
Martynka, for the moment, does not break any laws.
“We don’t help in abortions as such,” Doroshenko said, “We only provide information about legal and safe abortion – or put women in touch with non-profit that help carry it out.” Yet abortion organizations they’re being directed towards, like Aid Access, are not the safe organizations abortion activists make them out to be. And even if the drugs aren’t tainted, the abortion pill regimen is still dangerous… and known to be painful and traumatic even under the best circumstances.
Ukrainian women right now need food, shelter, medical supplies, and to feel like their families are safe — not the added trauma and violence of abortion on top of the trauma and violence they’ve already had to survive.
