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WPŁYW KLINIK NA PRZYSZŁOŚĆ SPOŁECZNĄ

Involvement of Irish

legal clinics in abortion

rights activism,
Magdalena Gabrysiak*

as an example for the way

forward in Poland

Dr hab. Barbara
Namysłowska-Gabrysiak*

In 1967, when the Abortion Act was just coming into effect in that approximately 300-500 thousand women procured it annually
Great Britain, which regulated under criminal law the legal pro- suggests, a socially normalized medical procedure .
4
visions of terminating a pregnancy in the entire United King- Today, however, the situation is diametrically different. Great Brit-
dom (except the Republic of Ireland), abortion had already been ain recently saw the legalization of abortion in Northern Ireland
1
legally available in Poland for over ten years . According to legis- in March 2020, whereas in Poland the ruling of the Constitutional
lation passed on the 27 of April 1956 in the Polish People’s Re- Tribunal on the 22 of October of the same year ruled out the pro-
th
nd
5
public, every woman had the legal right to an abortion in cases vision that legalized abortion on the grounds of fatal , or severe
where the termination of pregnancy was favourable for the preg- foetal impairment, prompting comments that the new regulation
nant woman’s health; where there existed a justified suspicion of is ‘one of the most restrictive in Europe’ .
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the pregnancy being the result of a crime; and where the woman The series of protests and civil unrest that this most recent court
was experiencing ‘difficult living conditions’ – clauses which in decision – alongside previous legislative projects to severely re-
many aspects resemble the British Parliament’s 1967 legislation . strict the availability of legal abortions (e.g., the proposed 2011
2
Much like in the UK nowadays, a non-restrictive interpretation of and 2016 bills to ban abortion in all cases except to save the wom-
the Polish law allowed, in practice, for early abortions on request an’s life) – have caused, resembles in many ways the social situ-
throughout the 1960s and 1970s. As historical journalist Walde- ation in the Republic of Ireland right after the country rejected
mar Kowalski notes, the reality of obtaining a pregnancy termi- the Abortion Act in 1967. Looking at Ireland’s most recent, thir-
nation in Poland at the time was simple and unproblematic, with ty-year history of feminist activism and the actions undertaken
many doctors executing it on the patient’s wishes . Abortion was, by many human rights organisations (e.g., the nationwide asso-
3
therefore, readily available and, as a plethora of statistics showing ciation of Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) and the student clin-
7
ics which operate within it) regarding issues of gender inequality,
it becomes easier to recognize the vital importance of the legal
* Magdalena Gabrysiak – studentka trzeciego roku Literaturoznawstwa na Uniwer-
sytecie w Cambridge w Anglii. Laureatka Ogólnopolskiej Olimpiady Artystycznej 4 Waldemar Kowalski, ‘Hoser: “W PRL 800 tys. Aborcji rocznie”. Aborcja była wtedy
(sekcji Historii Sztuki) oraz finalistka Olimpiad Języka Polskiego i Literatury legalna i masowa, ale nie aż tak – wyjaśniamy’ in natemat.pl (January 21, 2015)
oraz Języka Niemieckiego. Jej zainteresowania akademickie obejmują wszystko: <https://natemat.pl/130773,aborcja-w-prl-byla-legalna-i-masowa-abp-hoser-
od sztuk wizualnych, teori queer i feminizmu po ekokrytykę. Redaktorka naczelna widzi-w-tym-przyczyne-samobojczej-polityki> (accessed 16.9.2021).
publikacji „The Cambridge Review of Books”. 5 Case K 1/20. Many aspects of the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling from the 22
nd
** Barbara Namysłowska-Gabrysiak – dr habilitowana w Katedrze Prawa Karnego of October 2020 have been analised and presented in an issue of the Polish pub-
Porównawczego na Wydziale Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Warszawsk- lication Państwo i Prawo (2021, Nr. 8) devoted exclusive to this issue.
iego, Kierowniczka Kliniki Prawa UW, stypendystka Fundacji Humboldta, ad- 6 Sintia Radu, ‘Abortion Not Allowed in These European Countries’ in US News
wokatka w Okręgowej Radzie Adwokackiej w Warszawie. Autorka wielu publik- & World (May 24, 2018) <https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/arti-
acji z zakresu praw kobiet, prawa karnego i nauczania klinicznego. cles/2018-05-24/these-countries-in-europe-have-the-strictest-abortion-laws>
1 Abortion Act 1967, 1967 Chapter 87, <https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ (accessed 16.9.2021).
ukpga/1967/87/introduction> (accessed 16.9.2021). 7 The FLAC is a nationwide Irish ‘independent non-governmental organisation
2 The Act of 17th April 1956 r. on the conditions of pregnancy termination. Dzien- which exists to promote access to justice.’ Furthermore, ‘FLAC seeks to advance
nik Ustaw / Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych. national and international standards that promote human rights’ [Official FLAC
3 Waldemar Kowalski, ‘Hoser: “W PRL 800 tys. Aborcji rocznie”. Aborcja była wtedy statement (May 18, 2018)]. The organisation also operates FLAC Student soci-
legalna i masowa, ale nie aż tak – wyjaśniamy’ in natemat.pl (January 21, 2015) eties which are set up in different Universities across Ireland and which ‘are run
<https://natemat.pl/130773,aborcja-w-prl-byla-legalna-i-masowa-abp-hoser- by students with the support of a qualified solicitor or barrister.’ (FLAC website,
widzi-w-tym-przyczyne-samobojczej-polityki> (accessed 16.9.2021). ‘Join a student FLAC’ <https://www.flac.ie/getinvolved/student/>).

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