Polish Women’s Rights Groups Hit With Raids and Smear Campaigns

Activists are being targeted with raids, harassment and smear campaigns simply for supporting reproductive rights.

The Law and Justice Party led government has targeted women’s rights groups since coming to power in 2015. The party is founded on socially conservative ideology and has pursued a restrictive agenda on women’s reproductive rights. The tactics are putting women’s rights and safety at risk and activists say the actions of the government are preventing women from pursuing help.

The clampdown is taking place in a climate of restrictive reproductive rights for women in Poland, which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. In Poland, abortion is illegal except in cases of rape or when a female’s life is at risk or if the fetus is irreparably damaged.

Under the current government, the morning-after pill has been branded as “the early abortion pill” and has been restricted since July 2017.

 

 

Photo: “#StrajkKobiet, Plac Konstytucji, 8.03.2017” by Platforma Obywatelska RP is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0