Most of you probably don't know what is going on in Poland right now so I'll try to summarise it.

Poland's right-wing government and the Roman Catholic church want to implement a new horrible anti-abortion law. The abortion law is already strict in Poland but now they want to make it even worse.

The new law would mean the girls (no matter what age) and women who got raped and pregnant would not be able to have an abortion. Doctors will be afraid to do prenatal tests in case they damage the foetus. Every miscarriage will be evaluated and investigated and if it turns out to be intentional then the woman would spend from 3 months to 5 years in prison.

* “If I have a 32-week pregnant patient with pre-eclampsia, I have to wait for her and her child to start dying before I can take action,” explained Professor Romuald Dębski during a debate in Parliament last April. “If there is an ectopic pregnancy and bleeding, I can perform a termination. But if there is no bleeding - no immediate risk to life - I have to wait until she starts dying.”

This new law could lead to many illegal abortions and could harm the women.

It's appalling that in the 21st century laws are moving backwards rather than forwards. It really angers me that they've stooped to this level. I don't understand why a group of middle aged politicians and the Roman Catholic church are deciding what women can and can't do with their bodies?!

There was a protest in Poland on Monday when thousands of women didn't go to work/school and boycotted the streets. The protest was called Black Protest/Black Monday and all of the women came out dressed in black. Women in other countries such as France, Brussels and England also came out to support Polish women. Polish women have also received a massive amount of support on social media, especially on Twitter and Instagram. Quite a big number of men also came along with the women to support them.

The Parliament will start to debate the Bill today. If it passes it would result in a breach of international human rights treaties and conventions. 

I'll update you on how the debate went but in the meantime it would mean a lot if you showed your support on either Twitter or Instagram. I'm not saying it just because I'm Polish but because every woman has a right to have a choice as to what to do with her body.

Sylvia

xo

*Reference: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/09/a-dangerous-backward-step-for-women-and-girls-in-poland/