“WOMEN's STRIKE”: THE PROBLEM OF ABORTION IN THE MIRROR OF POLITICAL STRUGGLE IN MODERN POLAND

The article attempts to trace the impact that the "women's strike" had on the positions of forces in the issue of abortion in modern Poland. The author draws attention to the reaction to the Constitutional Court of Poland and its changes over the past period. The author discovers that only political parties that do not play a significant role in political life are willing to support the protesters on the women's agenda, and that a significant opposition party, as a result of the tightening of the abortion legislation, is coming to an understanding of the need to revise its program in relation to abortion.

Abortion and multifetal pregnancy reduction: An ethical comparison

In recent years, multifetal pregnancy reduction (MFPR) has increasingly been a subject of debate in Norway. The intensity of this debate reached a tentative maximum when the Legislation Department delivered their interpretative statement, Section 2 - Interpretation of the Abortion Act, in 2016 in response to a request from the Ministry of Health (2014) that the Legislation Department consider whether the Abortion Act allows for MFPR of healthy fetuses in multiple pregnancies. The Legislation Department concluded that the current abortion legislation [as of 2016] allows for MFPR subject to the constraints that the law otherwise stipulates. The debate has not subsided, and during autumn 2018 it was further intensified in connection with the Norwegian Christian Democratic "crossroads" policy and signals from the Conservatives to consider removing section 2.3c and to forbid MFPR. Many of the arguments in the MFPR debate are seemingly similar to arguments put forward in the general abortion debate, and an analysis to ascertain what distinguishes MFPR from other abortions has yet to be conducted. The aim of this article is, therefore, to examine whether there is a moral distinction between abortion and MFPR of healthy fetuses. We will cover the typical arguments emerging in the debate in Norway and exemplify them with scholarly articles from the literature. We have dubbed the most important arguments against MFPR that we have identified the harm argument, the slippery-slope argument, the intention argument, the grief argument, the long-term psychological effects for the woman argument, and the sorting argument. We conclude that these arguments do not measure up in terms of demonstrating a morally relevant difference between MFPR of healthy fetuses and other abortions. Our conclusion is, therefore — despite what several discussants seem to think — that there is no morally relevant difference between the two. Therefore, on the same conditions as we allow for abortions, we should also allow MFPR. Keywords: abortion, ethics, medical ethics, MFPR, selective MFPR

Unintended pregnancy resolution among parous women in twelve low- and middle-income countries

Around 40% of pregnancies worldwide are unintended and a half of those are terminated. Yet, few international comparisons of unintended pregnancy resolution (choosing birth or abortion) exist. This study analysed how parous women’s pregnancy intentions and abortion decisions are associated with their reproductive histories and country contexts using twelve Demographic and Health Surveys representing four context groups: post-Soviet/communist and Asian countries with liberal abortion legislation, and Asian and Latin American countries with restrictive abortion legislation. Similarities were found across contexts: preference to have children of both sexes, space births, stop childbearing after reaching desired family size and an increased likelihood of unintended pregnancy when using less-effective contraceptive methods versus none. Contextual factors most clearly associated with reports of unintended pregnancy resolution were type of abortion legislation and living in post-Soviet/communist contexts. Women’s propensity to report abortions and unintended pregnancy varied by context and the decision-making processes for pregnancy versus fertility management were different.

Evolution of the Abortion Law and its Practice in Poland Against the Background of the Current Legal Framework in New Zealand

The article presents a comparative study on abortion legislation in Poland and New Zealand. It includes a historical overview of the social and political influences shaping the contemporary approach to abortion in these countries. The aim of the article is to discuss the changes to the Polish and New Zealand abortion legislation and the current procedures required to access abortion. This article highlights differences in approaches to this issue in both countries where abortion laws have evolved recently in opposite directions. In New Zealand, after removing abortion from the Crimes Act 1961, abortion ceased to be the subject to criminal law, while in Poland where one of the strictest anti-abortion laws had been in force already, a ban was imposed on abortion which made it practically impossible for women to access legal abortions.

Parliamentary Parties and the Anti-Abortion Laws in Poland (1991–2019)

This article aims to analyze the approach of Polish parliamentary parties to the anti-abortion legislation in 1991-2019 on the level of their ideological programmes. Classification of political parties concerning their ideological families has been proposed. Next, the article presents a typology based on the party’s attitude to the discussed problem, distinguishing the following categories of parties: the proponents of apportioning, the opponents of abortion, heterogeneous parties, and parties that do not express an opinion on this issue.

Das Bollwerk des Katholizismus wankt

Even in Poland, the Catholic Church is in deep crisis - in a country that used to be considered one of the last bastions of Catholicism in Europe. Women are demonstrating by the tens of thousands against abortion legislation and combining this with sharp criticism of the Church. Polish cardinals are being reprimanded by Pope Francis, even the late Polish Pope John Paul II has been caught in the maelstrom of criticism from his countrymen. Reinhold Vetter analyses the historical, political, and social background for the belated onset of secularisation in this country: from Christianisation in the Middle Ages to the special path under communism, to current developments.