Protesters, dressed in black, came together on October 3 under the slogan “Black protest” and the hashtag #czarnyprotest (meaning black protest).

Following the example of Icelandic women in 1970s, on October 3, Polish women went on strike as a warning against the new draft law on abortion. Many women refused to show up at work and instead joined numerous protests in cities across Poland.

The action, called "Black Monday," has gone viral – thousands of internet users published their pictures of them wearing black under the common hashtag #czarnyprotest (#blackprotest).

Rival draft laws

In August, the citizens’ coalition “Stop Abortion!” submitted to Parliament a draft law changing the provisions allowing abortion and introducing a complete ban on abortion. The draft was supported by over 450,000 people. At the same time, the citizens’ coalition “Rescue women” submitted a draft law liberalizing the provisions concerning abortion.

Under current Polish law, abortion is allowed only in three cases: when the fetus is severely malformed; when the pregnancy poses a serious risk to the mother’s health or life; and when the pregnancy is a result of a crime (rape or sex with a minor).

During its session in mid-September, the Parliament decided to reject the draft law liberalizing access to abortion and, at the same time, to continue the works on the draft law introducing a complete ban on pregnancy termination.

Prosecutors would wield great power

Under this draft law, termination of pregnancy is illegal and can be punished with imprisonment up to five years. However, if termination is a result of a medical treatment undertaken by a doctor to rescue the life of the mother, there is no punishment. Still, such a case would have to be verified by prosecutors, thereby leaving it up to them to will decide, on a case-by-case basis, whether a particular medical treatment was properly carried out and its actual purpose was to rescue the mother’s life.

Furthermore, if termination of pregnancy is a result of unintentional acts undertaken by the mother, she will not be punished. However, again, the decision whether actions were unintentional or not would be made by the prosecutor.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has submitted a legal opinion regarding this draft. In the HFHR’s opinion, criminalization of unintentional conduct that results in the death of the fetus may effectively deter doctors from ordering pre-natal diagnostic tests and may result in mothers’ reluctance to undergo medical treatment (more information is available here).

The Parliament will continue its works on this draft in October.