Those active in the beginning of the abortion “retired clinic”, including convicted in the first instance for the crime of assisting in abortion Justyna Wydrzynska, propose that perpetrators of specified acts do not fear sanctions for their illegal activities, as Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised them impunity. The very fact that specified a "responsible clinic" was created is simply a public mockery of Polish law, an incentive to violate regulations under the protection of the political protectorate.
Abortion activist Dream squad (ADT), including convicted at first instance for the crime of assisting in illegal abortion Justyna Wydrzyńska (The Appeals Court handed over the case for re-examination), had already declared the availability of a place where women will execute pharmacological abortion. This "retired clinic" called AboTak was opened on 8 March in the neighbourhood of the Polish Parliament. As stated by abortion activists active in the beginning and operation of AboTak, it will be a place where they will aid women to execute abortion utilizing abortion pills. It is so worth considering on what basis specified activity in Poland is possible in general, taking into account the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the Act on household Planning, the Protection of Human Fetals and the Conditions of Acceptability of Abortion (the household Planning Act), Penal Code, and even issued last August guidelines of the lawyer General concerning, among others, pharmacological abortion.
The law hasn't changed
If anyone seems to be surviving in the alleged state of law, he is profoundly mistaken. A good example of the spread of lawlessness is the issue of access to abortion, or, in view of this, decriminalisation of abortion. The draft law amending the provisions of the Criminal Code providing, inter alia, for criminal liability for abortion incompatible with the provisions of the Act or the offence of assistance in abortion, was not adopted by the Sejm in July 2024 due to the fact that it did not get the required majority of Members. In another words, in a democratic way, representatives of the majority of Polish society decided that abortion and abortion assistance should stay illegal and criminal. The subject should be closed. But this did not happen – after the July failed vote in the Sejm, any politicians from the ruling coalition, working closely with abortion organizations, announced that this will be implemented in Poland differently – as it shortly turned out – through ministerial guidelines to force doctors to execute abortion in hospitals under the threat of financial sanctions or even failure of contracts with NFZ.
The guidelines of the Minister of wellness are, of course, not common law, and in the state of law they cannot affect the form of human life-saving provisions of the Polish Constitution (Article 38), the household Planning Act (Article 1) or the Criminal Code (Article 152), and should besides comply with these provisions. This is at least how the constitutional regulation of law states that "public authorities operate on the basis and within the limits of the law" (Article 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland). However, in the issue of abortion, the application of this rule is seemingly to be suspended or completely abolished – at least that is the consequence of the ruling actions of the past.
Public criminal activity in AboTak
AboYes, a place where activists – as they declare – will aid women to execute abortions should never arise. Aid in the deprivation of the unborn kid constitutes a criminal offence in Poland as referred to in Article 152(2) of the Criminal Code, according to which the conviction of imprisonment of up to 3 years is subject to any individual who gives to a pregnant female assistance in abortion in violation of the provisions of the Act or urges her to do so. This provision is inactive in force, and it is clear from the caselaw that the activities carried out by activists in the ‘patient clinic’ of AboTak bear the marks of an abortion aid offence. For example, in its judgement of 30 September 2008 in Case II AKa 231/08, the Court of Appeal in Katowice concluded that ‘aid in abortion can be implemented in different ways, for example, by providing tools for this purpose, but besides by providing advice or information’. This position was besides maintained by the Court of Appeal in Gdańsk in its judgement of 9 February 2017 in Case II AKa 294/16. It should so be clear that persons who make available to women a place (location) and a tool (tablet) for carrying out an abortion which is incompatible with the law (Family Planning Act) have the characteristics of a crime under Article 152(2) of the Criminal Code. It is worth noting that the said Court of Appeal in Katowice even considered that the transportation of telephone contact alone could constitute a criminal offence under Article 152(2) of the Criminal Code, since this is “essential aid due to the fact that it allowed further action to be taken straight to remove the pregnancy (...)”. This is all the more so by providing women with abortion pills, which have long been praised by abortion activist Dream Teamu and which is now to be conducted openly.
And that's what Tusk said
So the apparent question is: on what rule are abortion activists (one of whom has already been wrongly convicted for criminal aid in illegal abortion) openly open and even advertise a place where, according to their declarations, crimes are to be committed? Could another citizens breaking the law, e.g. thieves, besides be able to act openly, and, as was the case with AboTak, number on police protection? It seems that nothing (although in the current situation nothing can be excluded) and the main reason why ADT activists are presently feeling unpunished seems to be a political protectorate. Moreover, the activists do not hide with him, stating in a conversation with tvp.info that "Donald Tusk promised that people who would assist in access to abortion would not be prosecuted: – We are not curious in the 1993 law, which is not respected anyway. There's no abortion ban at this point.. Therefore, it is clear that, for unexplained reasons, the promises of the head of government are now a precedence before the laws and even the Constitution itself. In specified circumstances, it besides seems irrelevant that, rather recently, in August 2024, lawyer General Adam Bodnar issued guidelines for the prosecutor's office "for the conduct of preparatory proceedings concerning (...) alleged pharmacologic abortion", in which he wrote, inter alia, "the universal organisational units of prosecutors are required to conduct or supervise proceedings concerning incompatible abortion, to supply assistance or to encourage it."
Activists who have been helping in pharmacological abortion have been mocking Polish law for a long time. However, a peculiar manifestation of this abortion is the public making available of the premises intended to carry out criminal activities in it. And all this in the close vicinity of the Sejm building – the place where the representatives of the Nation sit, although elected to act, but above all obliged to comply with the law.
R.pr. Catherine Goose – manager of the Center for Medical Law and Bioethics Ordo Iuris
Source: Ordo Iuris
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