One of the famous slogans of last year’s protests against Mgr Julia Przyłębska’s ruling banning abortion was: “You never go alone”.
However, after the vote in the European Parliament on Thursday, I am reminded of a moment when I felt that we were alone like never before.
It was a week before Przyłębska’s infamous statement in mid-October. A series of important decisions awaited us – in the Supreme Court, the case of the immunity of Judge Igor Tuleya, in an institution called the Constitutional Court – the case of the removal of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Prof. Adam Bodnar and, of course, the issue of prohibiting abortion for embryopathological reasons.
Then we raised the alarm, organized mini car protests on the Ujazdowskie – Bagatela – Szucha route, put up posters, wrote, persuaded and talked. However, there were few occasions in our activity when I felt more like we were going alone.
Representatives of the Women’s Strike in the European Parliament in Strasbourg with Malij Bjork, MEP mat. Malin Bjork
The need for ideological purity prevailed – whether it be women’s rights or the rule of law. Either abortion or the independence of the judiciary. My explanation that the pseudo-Tribunal abortion case, if lost, would become the most painful example of what happens when there is no rule of law, when the judiciary is not independent, seemed to come to nothing. I saw those expressions with the word “a” – but I also saw those expressions with the word “Court”. My heart broke with helplessness.
This feeling comes back every time – especially – politicians who try to deny this obvious connection, when they talk about abortion in Poland or about last year’s statement by Mgr Przyłębska, trying to focus only on part of the subject. focus, and take only the subject they don’t consider so important, how much it can make them popular among (only) their own voters – while avoiding the one that might lower the popularity level in any way.
I went to Strasbourg this week with little hope, expecting to find such politicians. There were indeed quite a few, and in the EP’s motion for a resolution on the rule of law, the history of the pseudo-Constitutional Tribunal did not include the issue of M. Przyłębska’s statement of 22 October last year.
But luckily there weren’t just those – there was also a left-wing MEP from Sweden Malin Bjorkwho, at our strike request, tabled two amendments to the missing resolution – one stating that on 22 October the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, which lacked sufficient staff, was used for political purposes to remove the rights of women living in Poland to take. And the second – it is clear that Mrs Przyłębska’s statement makes no sense.
When I saw the voting results, when I saw that it worked, I felt again that I was not going alone. And with this feeling, on October 22, 2021, I will go to the collection of signatures for the project Legal Abortion Without Compromises, which we are organizing that day throughout Poland. And none of us go alone.
***
A year after the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling on abortion, the Women’s Strike takes to the streets again.
- On Friday, October 22, protests will be held in: Bielsko-Biała, Częstochowa, Gliwice, Katowice, Łódź, Olsztyn, Opole, Poznań, Szczecin, Tricity, Warsaw and Wrocław.
- In Warsaw on Friday from 18 OSK stands on the roundabout for women’s rights [właściwie rondzie Dmowskiego] he collected signatures for a civil legislative initiative to liberalize abortion regulations “Legal abortion without compromise”.
- Bee. 12 on Friday in front of the TK headquarters at al. Szucha in Warsaw, a press conference will be held to open the project “Do not talk about it”. It is a citizen project to make a documentary about the history of women who have experienced embryopathological defects in the fetus.
- Detailed information can be found on the Facebook profile of the event – on this link.
“Total travelaholic. Subtly charming zombie geek. Friend of animals everywhere. Music buff. Explorer. Tv junkie.”
