As mass protests against a near total ban on abortion continued into a sixth day, Poland’s most powerful man spoke for the first time about last week’s constitutional court ruling and the upheaval it has provoked.
Kaczyński – whose official position is deputy prime minister, but who, as chairman of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, is Poland’s de facto leader – claimed that the protesters are seeking to destroy the country, and appealed to his followers to defend churches.
The protests were prompted when the Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday ruled that abortions in cases where the foetus is diagnosed with serious and irreversible birth defects – which make up around 98% of legal terminations in Poland – are unconstitutional.
Although nominally an independent body, the tribunal – whose president, Julia Przyłębska, is a close personal associate of Kaczyński – is widely seen as being influenced by PiS, which engineered Przyłębska and other judges into their positions in 2016 in breach of procedures.
In his statement, which was broadcast in a video posted on PiS’s Facebook page, Kaczyński said that the court’s ruling is “fully in line with the constitution”. In fact, “there could have been no other ruling…while the current constitution is in force”.
Kaczyński then expressed regret that the tribunal’s decision “has become the pretext for violent social upheaval that is taking place in a situation [where] we have a severe stage of the COVID-19 epidemic”. Poland is currently suffering record and rapidly growing numbers of coronavirus cases.
“These demonstrations will most certainly cost many lives,” warned the PiS chairman. “Those who call for them and participate in them cause a threat and are committing a serious crime. The authorities not only have a right, but an obligation to oppose such events.”
Every day since Thursday, tens of thousands of protesters have come out onto the streets in cities across Poland, and even many small towns. As well as mass rallies and marches, there have been organised blockades of roads as well as attempts to disrupt masses on Sundays and vandalise churches.
The latter form of protest has prompted far-right organisations and football fans to form defence forces that have stood in front of churches to protect them. In some cases, this has led to physical confrontations with protesters and police.
Some members of the ruling camp – including a deputy justice minister – have praised these nationalist groups. And in his statement today, Kaczyński appealed to his party’s followers to also protect stand in defence of churches.
“We must defend Polish churches at any cost,” he declared. “I call on all PiS members and all those who support us to take part in the defence of the church.”
Kaczyński also argued that churches are “not being attacked by accident”. The church is the “repository of the only moral system commonly known in Poland”, the deputy prime minister claimed. “Rejection of [the church] is nihilism, and we see this nihilism in these demonstrations.”
“This attack [on churches] is intended to destroy Poland, to lead to the triumph of forces [whose] authorities will end the history of the Polish nation as we know it,” he continued, adding that “in the attacks one can see an element of preparation, maybe even training”.
“Today is the time when we must be able to say ‘no’ to that which can destroy us,” he warned. “It depends on the state; but above all it depends us, on our determination and courage.”
“Let us defend Poland, let us defend patriotism,” concluded Kaczyński. “Only then can we win the war declared directly by our opponents.”
The mass protests against the abortion ruling have so far been mostly peaceful. However, as well as the confrontations between far-right groups and protesters last night, there were also clashes between demonstrators and police protecting Kaczyński’s home on Thursday.
The main organisers of the protest argue that, because the Constitutional Tribunal was illegitimately taken over by PiS, its rulings are not valid. They accuse Kaczyński of using the court as a way to avoid taking direct responsibility for an unpopular decision.
Polling suggests that only around 10-15% of Poles want to further tighten Poland’s abortion law, which is already the strictest in the EU apart from Malta’s. A plurality of around 45-50% favour maintaining the current law, while 30-40% want it to be liberalised.
Main image credit: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość/Facebook (screenshot)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
