Conservative group checks if Ukrainian refugees are receiving abortions at Polish hospitals

An ultraconservative group in Poland, Ordo Iuris, has been “auditing” hospitals to ascertain whether they are providing abortions to refugees from Ukraine and, if so, whether they are taking the required legal steps to “verify if the woman is telling the truth that she was raped”.

“Although some Ukrainian women fell victim to [rape], which is of course a tragedy and requires sympathy, I’m also convinced that there are many women who escaped Ukraine and simply want an abortion,” Katarzyna Gęsiak, director of Ordo Iuris’s centre for medical law and bioethics, told Wirtualna Polska.

Poland has some of Europe’s strictest abortion laws, with terminations only permitted in two instances: where the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life or health, or if it results from a criminal act (such as rape or incest).

In the latter case, an opinion from prosecutors that the pregnancy is likely to have resulted from a criminal act is necessary. Such abortions are extremely rare: in 2020, out of 1,076 legal abortions in Poland, only two were carried out on this basis.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland has been the primary destination for refugees, with over three million people crossing its border, around 95% of them women and children.

NGOs have raised concern that some of those women and girls, who may have been victims of sexual violence, will find it difficult or impossible to obtain an abortion in Poland.

Last week, the UN refugee agency warned that Poland’s policies in this area “do not meet international standards” and said that it would raise such issues – including access to abortion – with the Polish government.

While women’s rights groups in Poland have been trying to support Ukrainian women seeking abortions, Ordo Iuris – an influential organisation that has long campaigned for tougher abortion laws – has sought to ensure that the law is upheld.

In a letter obtained by Wirtualna Polska, Ordo Iuris wrote to a hospital asking for information on how many abortions it carried out between 1 February and 11 May due to the pregnancy resulting from a criminal act; how many of those were for Polish or foreign citizens; and whether the required prosecutor’s opinion was provided.

When contacted by the news portal, Ordo Iuris confirmed it has carried out similar “audits” at other hospitals. “We monitor the scale of abortion from time to time,” said Gęsiak.

“We are aware of what the pro-abortion groups are currently doing,” she continued. “They place a strong emphasis on special treatment of Ukrainian women when it comes to the rape premise [for abortion].”

But “Polish law is what it is” and “abortion is abortion”, added Gęsiak. “It doesn’t matter what country a person comes from.”

“Without [requiring] a prosecutor’s opinion it would be abortion on demand, without verifying if the woman is telling the truth that she was raped,” she warned. “Some people will always want to take advantage of a given situation.”

Ordo Iuris has become a prominent and influential organisation during the rule of Poland’s current national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government. Last year it launched a new university in Warsaw with the endorsement of the education and culture ministers.

The organisation has also been a driving force behind a number of campaigns that have gained wider traction. As well as pushing for tougher abortion laws, Ordo Iuris has also led the fight against what it (as well as PiS and parts of the Catholic church) call “LGBT ideology”.

Main image credit: Patryk Ogorzalek / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

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.