Polish women's abortion rights targeted by pro-capitalists and Catholic Church

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WARSAW—In pursuing its attempt to restore capitalism in Poland, the government is not restricting its attacks to purely economic matters. It is also waging a bitter fight to undercut basic democratic rights. As in the former Soviet republics, the move to capitalist restoration is being accompanied by the atterpted introduction of more authoritarian forms of goverment. For the rulers of these countries, democracy and capitalism are incompatible.

In Poland, women's rights have been singled out for the fiercest attack. Women already suffer most from the effects of the new economic policies-unemployment among women is substantially higher than among men, and climbing more rapidly, while women are hardest hit by the cuts in social spending (provisions for pre-school children, in particular) and healthcare.

In addition, the Polish parliament is now poised to outlaw abortion—in all cases except a direct threat to the woman's life and those at the forefront of this reactionary undertaking flatly state that they will want to follow this up with a ban on contraception.

A first attempt to revoke Poland's present, relatively liberal, abortion law was made last summer. But it was abandoned in the face of strong opposition; the members of Poland's parliament backed down at the prospect of a mass campaign of protest just before the general elections scheduled for October last year.

(Ironically, the Polish anti-abortion lobby claims that the current law is a "relic of the Stalinist policy directed against the Polish nation." In fact, it dates from the "thaw" of 1956, and was adopted as a concessión to public opinion, replacing restrictive legislation introduced at the height of the Stalinist terror.)

Obliged to retreat last summer, the anti-abortion forces began preparing themselves for a new offensive right after the elections. At the end of November, they succeeded in getting the congress of the Polish doctors' association to amend its statutes. Any doctor now performing an abortion is liable to be banned by the association from practicing medicine.

This amendment to the association's statutes (introduced at the congress without warning, and catching the medical community by surprise) is a violation of the Polish constitution as it currently stands. Yet the government has done nothing to have the constitution enforced. Women in Poland today—young and old alike-are having their democratic rights taken away as part of the restoration of capitalism. A Lodz textile worker during a strike in 1981. Polish women played a leading role in the struggle against Stalinist oppression. They won't back down now.

This is hardly surprising when we look at the composition of the new government of Prime Minister Jan Olszewski. The greatest role in this government is now being played by the extreme rightist and clericalist ZChN (National Christian Union), a party which openly demands that Poland's constitution—indeed, Polish politics as a whole—be based on "Catholic values." In its internal press, this party praises both the past clerico-fascist, Spain's General Franco, and his present counterpart in France—the notorious racist Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Despite the full support of the Catholic Church, the ZChN won only eight percent of the votes in last October's elections. Yet today it is fast becoming the most powerful force in Poland's political institutions. It heads three ministries, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice.

The party's hold over the country's repressive apparatus further tightened in early February, when another ZChN supporter was appointed head of the Office of State Security (still overwhelmingly staffed by members of the old Stalinist secret police). In addition, the speaker of Poland's parliament, who plays an important role within the present system, is the national chair of the ZChN.

A ZChN spokesperson declared at the end of February that his party had collected the signatures of over half the members of Poland's parliament supporting the proposed anti-abortion legislation. In this situation, it seems very possible that the bill prepared by ZChN activists will be discussed by parliament in the next few weeks.

Women's activists had previously believed the ZChN would wait for the adoption of a new constitution before trying to have their bill passed. Yet the experience of the doctors' association demonstrates that constitutional niceties are no obstacle to the extreme right.

Estimates of the number of abortions performed annually in Poland range from 400,000 to 650,000. This huge figure reflects the limited access to, and information on, contraception. All opinion polls conducted over the last two years have shown a firm majority in favor of maintaining the present legislation. Yet the demand for a referendum on the issue is rejected by clericalist politicians and the Catholic hierarchy as being "immoral."

Pro-choice campaigners are beginning to mobilize again in Poland. In Warsaw, for example, a broad coalition of left organizations and feminist groups was set up at the start of February to fight the proposed legislation.

With a determined anti-abortion (and totally unrepresentative parliament against them, however, those defending abortion rights in Poland face a difficult battle. International solidarity is needed.