An ever closer alliance between the Polish government and the Catholic Church has led to a radical tightening of abortion laws in recent years. In 2020, the PiS-controlled Constitutional Court removed the risk of serious fetal malformation as a condition allowing for legal abortion, creating a climate of fear and mistrust among doctors and women. The latest incident related to the rigid abortion ban became public this week, though it took place in late April: A young Polish woman from Krakow named Joanna had taken an abortion pill because she feared that pregnancy would endanger her health. The case of a humiliating police operation in response to a woman who’d taken an abortion pill has intensified debate over whether Poland’s abortion laws have gone too far. Is abortion a human right ?
