WARSAW — The Polish activist group Aborcyjny Dream Team (Abortion Dream Team, ADT) is working to open a stationary abortion clinic in Warsaw, where women can take abortion pills. It would be the first of its kind in Poland, which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.
[shortcode-Women-worldwide–Sign-up-box]
“We’re fed up with people constantly making things difficult for us. The law is strict, but everything is a matter of interpretation. Under PiS, we would probably go to jail for this,” said Natalia Broniarczyk of ADT, which was formed in 2016 to provide Polish women with abortion pills mailed from abroad.
ADT activists have been toying with this idea for several years. They dreamed of creating a place where women could come, take abortion pills and go through the entire process. Or pick them up and take them home. And also to seek advice and ask about anything that seems embarrassing. What is important to them is that the abortions can take place in a friendly and safe atmosphere, where women are not judged or asked for reasons.
We can do more now
That plan is now coming to fruition. ADT activists are currently looking for physical premises in the center of Warsaw, hoping that the city will make it available to them. They’ve already come up with a name for the clinic: “Abotak!” And they hoped to open it on Sept. 28, World Safe Abortion Day.
“Under PiS, this would have been impossible. Today, our fears are smaller, but they have not disappeared” Broniarczyk said.
“We are fed up with eternal compromises, little promises, and the fact that we have to fight, cry and beg for access to abortion. They tell us that we can’t do anything with the current regulations. The law is restrictive, but so is its interpretation — and that is key. Doctors, lawyers and politicians usually choose interpretations that are difficult for women. We want to show that the law can be interpreted differently, and that is why we can do more now.”
Need for a mindset change
Broniarczyk says that when the penal code was created in 1997, no one had even dreamed of abortion pills. So the legislation does not say that the transfer of pills is “aiding and abetting.”
Politicians must finally accept that abortions happen.
“That is an example of an anti-woman interpretation. It shows that if a friend gives me pills, she will automatically be treated as a criminal,” Broniarczyk said.
In 2021, ADT activist Justyna Wydrzynska was charged with “intent to aid an abortion and unauthorized distribution of a pharmaceutical,” after sending a woman abortion pills through the mail. In 2023, she became the first abortion rights activist to be convicted in Europe for helping a woman to get an abortion, and was sentenced to community service.
Wydrzynska argues that political change does not happen by itself. First, it must happen in people’s minds, which requires a grassroots initiative, which requires courage.
“The clinic is intended to force politicians to act in our interest, to put pressure on them. Because for now they are guided by the party’s interests. Eight months have passed since the change of government, and there are still no legal abortions or even abortion guidelines from the Ministry of Health. We will not allow ourselves to consider abortions as a substitute topic” she said.
Abortion is a fact
The originators of Abotak! also intend to invite representatives of medical staff, including from Dutch clinics, to train Polish doctors how to perform surgical abortions based on WHO guidelines. Due to the significant restrictions on abortions in Poland, many doctors are only able to perform them using outdated techniques.
We do much more than the Polish state.
Yet ADT activists do not want Abotak! to be a only a medical center; they want to familiarize people with the topic of abortion, educate them, and talk about the issue without any taboos.
“We know how to run such a clinic because we have been doing abortions for years. Every day, we help 130 people have abortions. We spend millions of zlotys on it. We do much more than the Polish state. We put a lot of effort and emotion into this work. We must fight for cultural change to affect political change. That’s what this clinic is for. Politicians must finally accept that abortions happen. Because it is not an ideological topic or a conflict, but a fact,” Broniarczyk said.
ADT estimates Abotak! will cost approximately 150,000 zloty (about ,900). So far, the activists have started a fundraiser online to collect funds for the clinic.
