Eleanor Corney
After a near total ban of abortion, the number of legal abortions has fallen by 90% in Poland, during the first year alone. Studies have said the ‘całkowity zakaz aborcji’ (full abortion ban) will start to affect fertility rates in the country.
Abortion ban
In 2020, the Conservative Polish government ruled in favour of a near-total abortion ban. They found that terminating a pregnancy violates the constitutionally protected right to life. This ban included the termination of pregnancies that may be damaging to both the baby and the mother’s lives.
In a poll conducted by Polish Journal Gazeta Prawna, it was said the ruling on abortion reduced the desire to have children and “increased the intergenerational and gender polarisation”.When asked about the government’s decision, more than half of the respondents agreed it has reduced their willingness to enlarge their family and have more children. However, most respondents who responded in favour of smaller families were female.
GUS:
W lipcu urodziło się 26,5 tys. dzieci (27,7 tys. rok temu)
Zmarło 31,5 tys. osób (33 tys. rok temu)Suma urodzeń za ostatnie 12 miesięcy to 318,2 tys.
I wciąż spada. To wciąż rekordy od II WŚ⚠️*stara skala od 340 do 440 tys.
W takiej skali wrzucałem dane wiele lat. pic.twitter.com/tMnywTI3nN— Rafał Mundry (@RafalMundry) September 24, 2022
Gender disparities
The diagram above analyses the birth rate trends in Poland. The red line represents deaths, the green line represents births, and the blue lines represent the government’s introduction of child benefit policies, intended to increase birth rates in the country.
The poll – carried out by United Surveys for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and RMF24 – found that 52% of Polish people were less likely to have children. 67% of female respondents claimed they were less likely to have children, which is a rise from last years 57%. However, for male respondents, the figure remained at around 35% for both years. This is not the only time there has been a disparity between genders when answering questions.
“This has indicated that Polish people, as a whole, have become more conservative.”
A question was posed regarding which cases it would be possible to terminate a pregnancy, and this has indicated that Polish people, as a whole, have become more conservative. However, through analysing the distribution of the results, men are more responsible for giving such conservative answers.
For example, when asked whether a termination should be possible if it endangers the mother’s life, 92% of women voted in favour of the decision. Only 76% of male respondents voted in favour. Similarly, when asked whether an abortion should be possible in the event of a threat to the mother’s health, 76% of women were in favour, whereas only 61% of men were.
Polish leader’s response
Polish leader Jarosław Kaczyński claims the country’s low birth-rate is due to women drinking too much. He also claims that the average man “has to have been drinking for over 20 years” to develop alcoholism, while women need to be “only drinking for two”.
The leader of the populist ruling party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice) claims that if women abuse alcohol until the age of 25, then it is not a good prognosis for the future of child birth.
“If, for example, the situation remains such that, until the age of 25, girls, young women, drink the same amount as their peers, there will be no children,” said Kaczyński.
However, leaders from the opposition party have criticised Kaczyński and branded his comments as outlandish and out of touch. Some critics have claimed that the near-total abortion ban has discouraged women from giving birth. Others have noted that the rising cost of living could have contributed to the falling birth rate.
One government representative went on a TV talk show to argue Kaczyński’s comments. The opposition politician Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz, responded, “This is not a debate, it is insulting Polish women.”
Featured image by Iwona Castiello d’Antonio on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
