Letter to the Polish Ambassador: Abortion Dream Team activist Justyna Wydrzyńska faces charges for helping someone access abortion pills

April 6, 2022 - Blog, Creative and Direct Action - Tagged: , , , - no comments
Abortion Dream Team activist Justyna Wydrzyńska standing in front of a red background.
Photo: Abortion Dream Team

Justyna Wydrzyńska is facing three years in prison in Poland for helping someone access abortion pills. Justyna is an activist with the Abortion Dream Team and is dedicated to ensuring that pregnant people in Poland can access the abortion care they need. 

Helping someone have an abortion should never be a crime. It is unconscionable that Justyna is being target for her activism and human rights work. Justyna’s hearing will take place on Friday, April 8th in the Warsaw Praga Południe District Court.

The Abortion Rights Campaign has written to Ambassador Anna Sochańska urging her to ask the Public Prosecutor General to drop the charges against Justyna immediately. We encourage you to use the template below to let Ambassador Sochańska know that you support Justyna Wydrzyńska.

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LETTER TO THE POLISH AMBASSADOR TO IRELAND

Ambassador Anna Sochańska,

It is with dismay I heard of the case against the Polish woman Justyna Wydrzyńska who is facing 3 years in prison if convicted of charges that arise solely from her activism in attempting to support access to safe abortion. I urge you to work to stop this inhumane persecution of a woman who is working to support those whose lives are at risk as a result of being neglected by the Polish health system and denied access to abortion as healthcare by your laws. 

I am urging you to ask your Public Prosecutor General and your government to intervene to stop this madness. It is utterly horrific that your country would pursue such a case. These charges must be dropped and the Polish authorities must not pursue reprisals against other activists.

Justyna, and others like her, provide life-saving support to people in crisis situations. 

I have watched with horror how your country has rolled back human rights over the last few years. Removing rights from the LGBTQI+ community while encouraging violence and conversion therapies. More recently we’ve seen your government take away women’s bodily autonomy and try to force pregnant people to continue their pregnancies. Activists are being criminalised for providing support and healthcare. 

I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be a person with the ability to become pregnant or to be an LGBTQI+ person in Poland currently, although I suspect it is both heartbreaking and terrifying. 

I, and many others across Europe and the rest of the world, will be watching Justyna’s case with interest.

We are all too aware in Ireland that laws that restrict access to abortions in Poland – only allowed when the health or the life of the pregnant woman is at risk or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest – and criminalise those who provide or help with an abortion put pregnant people’s health and lives at risk and violate Poland’s obligations under international human rights law and standards.

I urge you to do what you can to intervene on Justyna’s behalf and start treating all your citizens with the dignity they deserve and allow them to make the healthcare choices that are best for them. 

Yours sincerely,