As of 1932 the Polish abortion laws have outlawed abortion except in the case that it would kill the mother or fetus, or if a fetus was conceived by a criminal act - meaning rape or any other sort of abuse. However recently the Polish government being led by the Law and Justice Party and backed by bishops of the Catholic Church has been pushing for a new set of laws. These new laws would ban abortion no matter what the reason or cause of the desire for abortion is. This would include abuse and of course the pain of the mother and the fetus.

While this certainly offends out sensibilities of a woman's autonomy to her body, it has caused an uproar in Poland just the same.

Within days of the announcement, Facebook groups of citizens troubled by the proposals sprung up, one of which now numbers 67,000 members. Many members marched across Poland in protest on Sunday.
The Independent

And one woman with whom The Independent spoke named Marta felt that the poor and the young would be most affected by this change in the law because of their lack of knowledge and their inability to access safe abortions elsewhere in Europe. These women would make up the large percentage of women who would die from underground abortions using coat hangers.

This idea has started protests across the country using coat hangers as tools of protest. People are sending wire hangers to the Prime Minister as a means of reminding him that without the access to healthy abortion women will do whatever it takes to save themselves from stigma and from death.

The use of coat hangers is a dark and treacherous part of the United States' own dark anti-abortion past. The use of coat hangers in America before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to decriminalize abortion is well documented. However because these were performed secretly there is no record of how many women used them.

It is estimated that likely thousands of women died from these procedures. Now Poland would like to take their people back to these medieval practices.

With this in mind it is important that we stand in solidarity with the Polish people who will be affected by these laws. Just as we spread awareness during the most difficult and treacherous parts of the revolution in Ukraine, we must once again understand and teach about the pains of Poland.