Europe | Choice v life

Poland’s ruling coalition divides over women’s rights

Donald Tusk has failed to keep his promises on abortion laws

A demonstrator holds up a clothes hanger, a symbol of underground abortion, during a demonstration of women and pro choice activists in front of the Polish Parliament in Warsaw
Let down by TuskPhotograph: AFP

A FLAT IN Warsaw will soon become Poland’s first abortion clinic. The interior, designed like a teenage girl’s bedroom, reflects the reality of abortions in a country where they are in effect illegal: most of them happen at home, the woman unassisted and alone. Abortion Dream Team, the charity behind the project, says that every day around 130 girls and women contact it for help in ending their pregnancies. The clinic, which will operate in a legal grey zone, will give them space to do so—with a comfy sofa and films to distract them while they take abortion pills.

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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Failure to deliver”

From the September 14th 2024 edition

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