In a crowded courtroom, Justyna Wydrzynska stands upright in the dock as she hears her sentencing on Tuesday March 14, eleven months after her trial began. The judge declares the activist for the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) ” guilty “ having “assisted abortion”. His sentence? Eight months – 240 hours – of community service. A half-relief, while article 142 of the Penal Code, which targets this offense, provides for up to three years in prison. This is the first time that an activist has had to face justice for abortion assistance in Europe.
Pillar of the collective Abortion without borders, Justyna Wydrzynska had, in 2020, helped a woman to terminate an unwanted pregnancy by spontaneously sending her her own pills, constituting a medical abortion. The quarantine has never known the so-called “Anna”, a mother with a violent partner. Her companion, who had forbidden her to go to Germany for an abortion, finally took the package, immediately calling the police. Ania ended up having a miscarriage. “I have never regretted a single moment. It was just about helping my neighbor, while Ania was the victim of violence”, had testified Justyna Wydrzynska to the World end of 2022.
After her conviction, in front of the cameras, the activist claims not to accept her verdict, announcing to appeal. “I don’t feel guilty at all. We will simply continue our work and answer every call for help with an abortion. »
The law in Poland is one of the most repressive in the European Union. It authorizes abortion only in the event of danger to the life of the pregnant woman, rape or incest. And effective access to this right is often hampered. Monster demonstrations had accompanied the ban on abortion in the event of serious fetal malformation, enacted in January 2021 and announced in October 2020 by the Constitutional Court. If assisted abortion is criminalized, anyone who self-administers self-obtained pills cannot be prosecuted. And it is precisely this cog that activists and NGOs working in this field play, sending pills anonymously from abroad.
“This verdict is a disgrace”
“This verdict is a disgrace. This affair is above all political.deplores Kinga Jelinska, head of Women Help Women, a member organization of Abortion Without Borders, which is responsible for sending medical abortions to homes. “Power is completely cut off from realityshe denounces : the majority of Poles are now in favor of abortion. As for Ania, she even sent a letter to Justyna Wydrzynska to thank her for “her act of humanity”. »
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