Different positions in the European Parliament on abortion

: the abortion debate in Poland in 2016 and in 2020 as a case study

Abstract

From being illegal until 1932, to being legal during the Communist regime, to thecompromise of 1993, the abortion law in Poland has been a hotly debated topic that arisesever so often. With the electoral win of PiS in 2015, a new chapter of this debate began, asthis party acted to end the 1993’s established abortion legislation. Challenges to thereproductive and women’s rights were not the only facet of this new governing party, withattacks to the rule of law being reported and noticed nationally and internationally. In anatmosphere of turmoil over another right-wing populist party being elected to government,this dissertation centres on two different moments of the abortion debate in Poland: 2016 and2020, both during PiS’ rule. In 2016 a citizen’s initiative entitled “Stop Abortion” (“StopAborcji”) proposed a near-total abortion ban. This event would trigger large-scale grassrootscontestation in the streets: especially Black Monday, the largest mobilisation since theSolidarity movement. This struggle eventually succeeded in maintaining the abortion law as itwas. In 2020, already with one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, Poland tookanother step back: the K 1/20 judgement, from the Constitutional Court. This ruling inOctober of 2020 considered unconstitutional to perform abortions when the foetus is severelymalformed or at high risk of impairment – coinciding with the majority of cases of legallyperformed abortions in Poland. This move was also met with strong contestation on thestreets: the Strajk Kobiet protests, with the mobilisation in October of 2020 being one of thelargest to memory. The two events mentioned both sparked debates in the European sphere –with the European Parliament becoming the centre stage for activism and international solidarity, with MEPs siding with the protesters or the Polish government. Focusing on the European Parliament (EP) debates “Women’s rights in Poland” (2016) and “Abortion rights in Poland” (2020), but also and many scientific articles, news reports, books, the main goal of this dissertation is to understand the factors behind the different positions on abortion in theEP: either East/West, authoritarian populism/liberal democracy, Poland/Europe, or any other.

Date of Award	27 Jul 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	José Tomaz Castello Branco (Supervisor)