Four reasons why Poland's war on abortion should scare you {Pro-death butt hurt}

Skip to comments.

Four reasons why Poland’s war on abortion should scare you {Pro-death butt hurt}

Open Democracy ^

| 3 Feb 2021 | Neil Datta

Posted on 02/05/2021 1:18:31 AM PST by Cronos

This is not just ‘Poland being Poland’. These actions are illegal, inhumane and could spread across Europe – and this is just the beginning.

Poland’s near-total abortion ban came into effect last week when it was published in the country’s official government gazette. Polish hospitals and medical practitioners are no longer allowed to carry out an abortion in the case of a fetal anomaly. Such cases made up the great majority of terminations performed in the country, which, even before the new ban, already had the harshest abortion law in Europe – now, abortions are only permitted in cases of rape and incest and when the mother’s life or health are endangered.

What’s happening in Poland right now shouldn’t be seen as merely typical behavior by the Polish state. This is not just ‘Poland being Poland’. These actions are illegal, inhumane and could infiltrate the rest of Europe – and this is just the beginning.

It’s illegal

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, which issued the anti-abortion ruling is itself of highly contested legitimacy. Putting aside the substance of the ruling, the current tribunal is the result of a political power play by the ruling PiS (Law and Justice) party that evicted the previous judges and replaced them with judges more amenable to the party’s political agenda. The former judges have not recognized their eviction nor their newly installed replacements.

Thus, the Constitutional Tribunal itself is the subject of fundamental democratic contestation in Poland, and the European Commission has raised concerns about it in its ongoing proceedings about infringement of the rule of law in Poland.

As for the recent anti-abortion …