A trial for assisted abortion against an activist of a pro-choice organization opened on Friday April 8 in Warsaw, the first trial of its kind in Poland and in Europe, noted an AFP journalist.
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Justyna Wydrzynska is accused of having, in 2020, provided abortion pills to a pregnant woman who indicated that she was the victim of domestic violence. The activist faces up to three years in prison for “provided abortion assistance” and “having marketed medicinal products without authorizationaccording to Polish legislation, one of the strictest in Europe.
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“I hope this trial will mark a turning point”
In 2020, a woman in the 12th week of pregnancy, who wanted to terminate her pregnancy, asked Justyna Wydrzynska, a member of the collective Aborcyjny Dream Team, for help. Previously, the woman wanted to go to an abortion clinic in Germany, but her husband prevented her from leaving. As the woman was waiting at home for a package with the pills, her husband called the police, who confiscated the medicine and launched an investigation. This is the first case in Europe where an activist has been prosecuted for aiding an abortion by providing abortion pills, according to Amnesty International, which has called for the charge to be dropped.
Poland, a traditionally Catholic country, already had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe when the Constitutional Court last year sided with the populist-nationalist government in declaring the interruptions of pregnancy for fetal malformation “unconstitutional“. “I hope that this trial will mark a turning point in the Polish legal system and that in a few years, abortion pills will be sold in gas stations alongside condoms.Justyna Wydrzynska told AFP after the first hearing.
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She told the Polish media that she was motivated by empathy for her correspondent, whom she did not know, having experienced a similar situation several years ago. Several dozen pro-choice protesters gathered outside the court building to cheer Justyna Wydrzynska as she left, while abortion opponents parked a van covered in large posters with the slogan “the pill killsand a picture of an aborted embryo. The trial has been adjourned until July 14.
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