2020–2021 women's strike protests in Poland

Background On 7 January 1993, the Polish parliament passed the Law on Family Planning forbidding abortion, except if (1) the pregnancy poses a risk to the mother's life, (2) it is the result of a crime, or (3) there is a foetal impairment. In 1997, the Constitutional Tribunal headed by Andrzej Zoll ruled abortion on social grounds unconstitutional. During the mid-2010s, about 80,000–200,000 Polish women carried out abortions (whether legal or illegal) per year according to the , or 8,000–13,000 according to the Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life. to the Constitutional Tribunal on whether or not abortions of pregnancies unrelated to rape or not threatening the mother's life, which they call "eugenic", are constitutional. In July 2018, a wave of nonviolent demonstrations for 3 weeks against an abortion ban started and led to the withdrawal of the bill. In December 2019, a muzzle law was created and sparked popular and widespread street protests for 2–3 weeks until it was withdrawn. The signatories argued that this provision violates Constitutional protections of human dignity (Article 30), the right to life (Article 38) or the prohibition against discrimination (Article 32). During the year, the Constitutional Tribunal heard or received arguments and legal interventions on the question, one of which the European branch of the American Center for Law and Justice planned to submit. Ruling of unconstitutionality In an 11–2 decision announced on 22 October 2020 and published on the next day, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled unconstitutional the provision of the 1993 Act permitting abortion when the fetus is predicted to have a "disability or incurable illness". The ruling found it violated the Constitutional protection of human dignity. The ruling did not affect the other two cases of the existing law, meaning that pregnancy can still be terminated if (1) it is the result of a crime (rape or incest), or (2) the woman's life or health is at risk. In practice, the provision that was ruled unconstitutional represented the overwhelming majority of the 1,000 to 2,000 abortions legally done in Poland each year. In 2019, 1074 of the 1110 official abortions were, according to the Polish Ministry of Health, cases of fetal defects. Among these, 271 were for Down's syndrome without other anomalies, and 60 cases were for Patau syndrome or Edward's syndrome without other anomalies. ==Protests==

in Wrocław, 26 October 2020 Timeline October 2020 Street protests began on 22 October 2020, following the ruling, and continued throughout the weekend. Women's Strike leaders Marta Lempart, Klementyna Suchanow and Agnieszka Czerederecka, who played a key role in the protests, were legally charged for their role in the protests. Street protests took place in 60 Polish towns on the night of 23 October, and again on 24 October 2020. Protests took place in town centers, in front of PiS offices, and offices of religious administrations, disrupting Sunday Mass in several cities, including Katowice and Poznań, On 26 October 2020, protesters in 150 Polish towns and cities participated. On 27 October 2020, the Women's Strike presented a list of demands: (1) fix the situations of the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court and the Ombudsman, (2) amend the budget – with more funds for health protection and assistance for entrepreneurs – (3) enact full women's rights – legal abortion, sex education, contraception – (4) stop the financing of the Catholic Church from the state budget, (5) end religious instruction in schools, and (6) enact the resignation of the government. Furthermore, they announced the creation of a Consultative Council, modelled on the Belarusian Coordination Council, a platform for dialogue to resolve the sociopolitical situation in Poland. On 28 October 2020, there was a nationwide women's strike under the slogan "I'm not going to work" (). Many workplaces and offices allowed their employees to take part in the protest. Besides universities, local media including Gazeta.pl, Gazeta Wyborcza, NaTemat.pl, and Newsweek Polska engaged in the protest by publishing editorials supporting the movement. Companies, including mBank, also joined. Far-right and nationalist militias violently removed protesters from churches. According to the Chief Commander of Police Jarosław Szymczyk, approximately 430,000 people participated in 410 protests across the country. On 30 October 2020, around 100,000 people participated in a mass protest in Warsaw. Zoliborz, a district where Jarosław Kaczyński lives, was blocked by the police who did not let the protest reach his house. November 2020 On 1 November 2020, many protests were related to the Prime Minister's decision to close cemeteries from 31 October to 2 November 2020, which affected flower producers and sellers (All Saints Day was observed that weekend). Flowers and candles were placed under PiS offices all over Poland. On November 2, the protests took place, among others, in Wroclaw. In Warsaw, the police intervened against two artists who undressed in front of the Presidential Palace as a form of support for the protesting women. at the local education administrative office in Toruń. On 6 November 2020, a big OSK protest took place in Zakopane. Tactics Offensive language One of the major tactics used by protesters was to use a wide variety of slogans using socially offensive language. The slogans from the first week of protests were deliberately vulgar, with protesters justifying the vulgarity as a response to the government and the Catholic Church's alleged lack of respect for women. Publicist of OKO.press collected and classified slogans into categories. His classification included: women's rights – "My body is not a coffin" (); political institutions altogether – "The government is not a pregnancy, it can be removed" (); Jarosław Kaczyński himself – "Jarek, you shat yourself, get up" (), "The cat can stay, the government get the fuck out" (, a reference to Jarosław Kaczyński's cat); the Catholic Church – "Fuck yourself in your own organs" (); and PiS itself – "Fuck PiS" (); along with a humorous mix of politeness and vulgarity – "Could you please fuck off" (). Citizens' legislative initiative On 12 November 2020, twelve women's groups and women members of the Sejm created a committee to write a citizens' legislative initiative Legal abortion without compromises (). Women parliamentarians included in the committee included Wanda Nowicka, Katarzyna Kotula, Katarzyna Ueberhan, Monika Falej, Katarzyna Kretkowska, Joanna Senyszyn, Magdalena Biejat, Marcelina Zawisza and Joanna Scheuring–Wielgus. The aim was that the draft bill should legalise and decriminalise abortion. As of 12 November, the limiting week within pregnancy to which abortion would be allowed remained open to debate. Natalia Broniarczyk of Abortion Dream Team stated that it was "finally time to trust [women]" who "took a responsible decision concerning their health and life" and that no restrictive anti-abortion law would prevent women from making their own decisions. Marta Lempart of OSK stated that it was possible to falsely claim that anti-abortion law prevented abortions, to pretend that the cost of abortions was unknown, and to pretend to have no friends of friends who had had abortions, but that the Catholic Church and right-wing politicians were responsible for the lies, while the women activists supported reality. Strike plan On 11 November 2020, Klementyna Suchanow of OSK stated that the government had failed to increase the health budget to ten percent of the GDP within the Consultative Council's one-week deadline. To obtain the increase in the health budget to ten percent, a general strike was under negotiation for early December with the medical community. Suchanow described the situation in the health services as "dramatic", "nearing armageddon", and "falling apart". == Government response ==

The national public prosecutor Bogdan Święczkowski stated that the protest organizers might face charges of "causing danger to the life and health of many people by causing an epidemiological threat". After two team members of the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv took part in protests and held signs reading "Jews also fuck PiS" (), ambassador Marek Magierowski gave them the option of either resigning or facing disciplinary action. Jarosław Kaczyński's statement Jarosław Kaczyński, who is considered Poland's de facto leader (he previously held the posts of Prime Minister and president of PiS, then Deputy Prime Minister), issued on 27 October a statement in which he called for the "defence of the churches, Poland and patriotism", stated that "the authorities have the full right to oppose these protests" and called "all PiS members and our supporters" to "defend [the churches] at all costs" (). Kaczyński also said that the protest were in violation COVID-19 restrictions in place. Kaczyński's speech was compared to Wojciech Jaruzelski's address declaring martial law in 1981. Many commentators and journalists interpreted the speech as a call for civil war and a declaration of war on society, based on Kaczyński's expression "at all costs". President Andrzej Duda's statement In an October 2020 interview with Polsat News, Andrzej Duda stated that he understands the women who protest and said that while he is opposed to "eugenic abortion", he thinks that work has to be done regarding situations in which fetal defects are lethal and that in this regard the right to choose should remain. He further stated that the physical defence of churches should be the role of the police and not counter-demonstrators. Parliamentary response In October 2020 the coalition partner of PiS, the Agreement party, published a statement calling for introducing precise legal provisions concerning the protection of what they referred to as an "unborn child" with Down syndrome and the mother's right to make decisions in "very rare cases of incurable lethal defects" of the foetus. Bill proposal On 30 October 2020, President Duda unveiled a bill prepared by his cabinet. He said "I am counting on a broad political consensus on this matter" and expected it to defuse the tensions. He explained that "after the enactment of this bill, there will still be three grounds for legal abortion in Polish law: [1] because of a threat to the life and health of the mother, [2] because of rape or incest and [3] because of severe and irreversible damage to the foetus which leads to the death of the child". The third case is detailed as such by the bill's draft: "Prenatal tests or other medical indications indicate a high probability that a child will be born dead or burdened with an incurable disease or defect leading inevitably and directly to the death of the child, regardless of the therapeutic measures applied." The Polish Government asked the Constitutional Tribunal a judicial opinion to help define the ruling exactly. On 26 January 2021 the Polish Government published a communiqué explaining that, following the release of the Constitutional Tribunal's judicial opinion, both the ruling and the opinion would be published in the Dziennik Ustaw that day, with the new ban enforced the next day. Military Gendarmerie On 23 October 2020, the prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki issued an order for the Military Gendarmerie to help the civilian police in the "protection of safety and public order" starting from 28 October 2020 (a nationwide women's strike was scheduled for that day ==Relations with the Catholic Church==

Profanity and graffiti , 24 October 2020, with a banner stating "Fuck the clergy" (). The protests included slogans with widespread use of the profanities "fuck" (), and "fuck off" (), opposing the Catholic Church, holding up banners in churches, painting of graffiti on church and cathedral walls throughout the country, described as the "vandali[sing]" of churches by The New York Times (NYT), and disrupting Masses. NYT described the protests as breaking a "longstanding taboo against challenging the [Catholic] church". The Church itself has called for "respect for churches". Apostasy During the October protests, enquiries regarding the procedure for apostasy (deregistering from the Polish Catholic Church), which requires a personal visit to a parish priest increased in popularity. Web search engine queries showed high frequencies for "apostasy" () and "how to apostatize" (). A Facebook event titled "Quit the church at [Christmas]" was followed by near to 5,000 people. National Geographic published a guide to the apostasy procedure and commented on the rapidly growing interest in apostasy in Poland. A spokesperson for Episcopal Conference of Poland (Episcopate), Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, described the 2016 Episcopate decree as a "decree on apostasy" that also allows returning to Church membership. Jacek Tabisz of the described the 2016 decree as easing the procedure since the previous procedure had required two witnesses. The Polish Rationalists Association had often been asked for help in finding witnesses. == Repression and consequences ==

State institutions Amnesty International stated on 29 October that protesters had "faced excessive use of force by police officers, and [had] been arbitrarily detained without access to lawyers" during the protests. • National Prosecutor and First Deputy of Public Prosecutor General Bogdan Święczkowski the "right hand" of Zbigniew Ziobro prepared guidelines for regional prosecutor's offices with instructions on prosecuting participants and organizers of abortion protests. Demonstration participants may face up to 8 years in prison. • National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) urged the private channel TVN24 to stop using the wording "Trybunał Konstytucyjny Julii Przyłębskiej" (The Constitutional Tribunal of Julia Przyłębska) because of the alleged "harassment" of a judge of the tribunal. The Constitutional Tribunal ruling was given by Julia Przyłębska, president of the tribunal. She is a close friend of Jarosław Kaczyński. • Adam Bodnar, the acting Polish Ombudsman, and TOK FM stated that there were censorship attempts and silencing of students supporting the protests, and possible disciplinary proceedings at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. Non-state agitators Agitators identifying themselves with white armbands attacked protesters in the 30 October Warsaw protest. Former Minister and member of parliament Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz attempted to defend some of the protesters; he was pepper-sprayed at a distance of about 1.5 metres in his face by one of the fighters. Sienkiewicz described the fighters, who he described as neo-Nazis (), being armed with batons and knives. Police were absent from the ''Rondo de Gaulle'a'' (roundabout) where the attack occurred. Sienkiewicz attributed encouragement of the fighters to Jarosław Kaczyński. Police later detained some of the fighters who attacked the protesters and published photos of some of the fighters' weapons. == Public opinion ==

Before the ruling: • A February 2019 Ipsos poll in Poland found that 53% of Poles (57% of women, 49% of men) support the right to abortion-on-demand up to the 12th week of pregnancy, 35% are opposed (35% of women, 35% of men) and 7% (9% of women, 16% of men) had no opinion. After the ruling: • A poll from 28 October 2020 found that 22% of Poles supported abortion-on-demand, 62% supported it only in certain cases, and 11% thought it should be completely illegal. • On 28 October 2020, four polls were published in which respondents were asked about their support or opposition to the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal: :* Kantar poll: 73% of responders did not support the ruling, 13% supported the ruling, and 14% had no opinion. :* SW Research poll: 71% of responders did not support the ruling, 13% supported the ruling, and 16% had no opinion. :* Pollster poll: 64% of responders support the protests, 33% are against, and 3% have no opinion. ==See also==