Belgium to help fund abortions for women who cant get them in Poland

The Belgian government will provide funding for women in Poland to access abortions abroad that are not permitted under one of Europe’s most-restrictive abortion laws.

The move comes amid ongoing disputes between Poland and the European Union over human rights and the independence of Poland’s judiciary. Abortion restrictions in Poland lie squarely at the intersection of those issues.

An October 2020 decision from Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal made abortion illegal except in cases of incest, rape or when the mother’s life is in danger. Specifically, it ruled that abortion due to fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional â€" effectively outlawing about 98 percent of the abortions that had been taking place in Poland. Proponents of the restriction argued that it was, in part, a way of preventing the abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome.

Belgium’s secretary of state for gender equality, Sarah Schlitz, announced Tuesday a donation of roughly $12,000 to Abortion Without Borders, an initiative by six abortion rights organizations in four countries that helps women in Poland access safe abortions outside the country. Poland began implementing a near-total ban on abortion earlier this year.

Belgium’s move â€" the first such action by an E.U. state over Poland’s tighter abortion rules â€" was timed to coincide with international “Safe Abortion Day.”

“Access to abortion is a fundamental right that should be assured by every democratic state. It permits women to freely manage their bodies, to protect their health and to not be forced to give up opportunities,” Schlitz said in a statement.

Mara Clarke, founder of the Abortion Support Network and a member of Abortion Without Borders, hailed the announced donation as “a true act of solidarity.”

“While the situation for people who need abortions in Poland has been dire since 1990, the ruling made in October 2020 and published in January 2021 has made things even worse,” she said in a news release. “The number of people needing our support has doubled, and we are both grateful for this support and hopeful that other countries follow Belgium’s lead.”

Rights groups accused Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, which is closely tied to the influential Roman Catholic Church, of taking advantage of the pandemic to push through the restriction. The party has been accused of stacking the Constitutional Tribunal with its supporters, and the European Union has raised concerns over the erosion of judicial independence in Poland.

The October abortion ruling sparked the largest anti-government protest movement since the fall of communism more than three decades ago, as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets. Surveys indicate a majority of Poles oppose the change.

Lawmakers in the European Parliament denounced the abortion restriction, and the European Union warned about the erosion of fundamental rights in Poland. The European Union, however, does not have legal control over how member states regulate abortion.

“Access to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy is suffering, in Europe, more and more attacks on the part of conservative forces,” Schlitz said in her statement Tuesday.

In the six months following the court ruling, Abortion Without Borders said it was contacted by 17,000 people seeking help with obtaining abortions, and it continues to receive around 800 calls per month.

While other countries including Argentina and Thailand have recently moved to ease access to abortion, she noted, “within the European Union, in the middle of the covid-19 crisis, we have seen a considerable regression.”

Poland scores close to last in a ranking by the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network of 52 European countries on legal frameworks to access safe abortion care. Belgium, where abortion is legal up to 12 weeks after conception, falls in the top 20 percent. The majority of European countries â€" and nearly all E.U. member states â€" allow abortion on a woman’s request or on broad social grounds, according to a study by the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The Polish government has tacitly allowed women to leave the country to obtain abortions, Schlitz said, meaning that the abortion restrictions can disproportionately affect poor women. The Belgian subsidy will go toward women who lack the financial means to travel abroad. It came shortly after antiabortion campaigners pushed for even more restrictive measures.

Abortion Without Borders also helps women access abortion at home via pills. Abortifacient pills are booming worldwide, and interest in medication abortion has spiked in Texas following the passage of a law sharply restricting abortions. In Washington, the House Oversight Committee planned a hearing Thursday to “examine the threat to abortion rights and access” from some state governments and the Supreme Court.

In addition to abortion access, the European Union and Poland have also seen tensions flare over LGBTQ rights. Also this week, several Polish regions that had declared themselves to be “LGBT-free” zones repealed those declarations after the European Union threatened to cut off millions of euros in funding to anti-LGBTQ local and regional governments.

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