Polish Activist Convicted of Helping Woman Get an Abortion

Justyna Wydrzynska is found guilty in a Warsaw court of helping 'Annie' terminate her pregnancy by giving her misoprostol and is sentenced to eight months of community service. Photo: Aborcyjny Dream Team

At the prosecutor's request, the 47-year-old Justyna Wydrzynska was sentenced to eight months of community service. She was cleared of an additional charge, that of possessing medicines with intent to market them. The ultra-conservative group Ordo Iuris, which took part in the court proceedings as a "social party" representing the interests of the unborn foetus, had demanded a prison sentence for the activist.

Wydrzynska's case is the first time an activist has been charged with helping someone get an abortion since the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government engineered a virtual ban on abortion in 2021 via a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal. This case has caused widespread concern among feminist groups that it could negatively impact on Polish women's willingness to seek out help when they need to terminate a pregnancy.

Wydrzynska was charged after the husband of a woman wanting an abortion filed a complaint with the police against the activist. According to Wydrzynska and her colleagues, the woman contacted them in 2020 seeking to terminate a pregnancy, as she was in an abusive relationship. The activists sent her the abortion pill misoprostol by post, though it's not clear whether the woman actually used the medication.

"The medicines, which I had in my possession for my own use and which I sent to Annie [the name of the woman asking for help, are currently the safest means of terminating a pregnancy in Poland," Wydrzynska said on Tuesday in her closing statement in the Warsaw court before the verdict was announced. "These pills...

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