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SMNTY Classics: Women's Rights in Poland · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey this Sanny and Samantha and welcome to Steph. I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: never told you a protection of I Heart Radio. So
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  Speaker 1: in our continuing look at abortion, what's going on with it,
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  Speaker 1: what has been going on with it, and recognizing people
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  Speaker 1: who have been doing amazing things in this world for
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  Speaker 1: a long time, who have been fighting that fight. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: we don't want to forget those people. So we're bringing
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  Speaker 1: back some classics focusing on the work people have done
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  Speaker 1: around the world. Uh. And in in light of that,
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  Speaker 1: we want to run this classic we did. It was
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  Speaker 1: a Monday Mini, but it was we covered a lot
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  Speaker 1: of ground and it was about women's rights in Poland. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: so please enjoy. Hey this Sanny and Samantha and welcome
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  Speaker 1: to stuff I've never told your production of I Hire Radio.
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  Speaker 1: And then you have a question for you for today's
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  Speaker 1: on Monday Mini. Do you remember the first protest you
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  Speaker 1: ever took part in and what it was for? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I protested. I was in seventh grade two thousand two
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  Speaker 1: seventh grade. Wow, Yeah, I protested against I believe it
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  Speaker 1: was Afghanistan, like the violence in the Middle East and
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  Speaker 1: like the war they were all talking about like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna go to a war in the rock and
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  Speaker 1: maybe Afghanistan. And I was in my small town de Laonaga,
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  Speaker 1: and I brought downuts and I was the hit of
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  Speaker 1: the protest. Of course you were, yes. And then I
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  Speaker 1: protested pretty soon after about like an environmental thing, but
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  Speaker 1: that got shut down because there was this big push
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  Speaker 1: to go around riding your bike naked. It was it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't just me that came up with this idea. It
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  Speaker 1: was a thing that was happening, but anyway got down. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's that's fair. That's fair. So I think the first
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  Speaker 1: protest that I actually was a part of was the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of Black Lives Matter and the Trayvon Martin protests,
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  Speaker 1: especially with the acquittal. And I remember I was really
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  Speaker 1: scared because I was working for the Department of jubil
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  Speaker 1: Justice and there is a part in our contract that
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  Speaker 1: states that we cannot be a part of anything that
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  Speaker 1: looks like it's trying to overthrow the government, which, by
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  Speaker 1: the way, still trying to figure out how people were
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  Speaker 1: able to participate with the riot and not fired confused
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  Speaker 1: because that was a blatant part of our state contract
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  Speaker 1: and has in fact, apparently it has something to do
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  Speaker 1: with federal grants as well. They get money by having
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  Speaker 1: people signed this and making sure to allow that it
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  Speaker 1: also goes with like the unionization and all of that
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  Speaker 1: within the government agency. So I remember being really kind
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  Speaker 1: of scared, but feeling like it was so important that
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  Speaker 1: I had to be there, but definitely shying away from
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  Speaker 1: all the cameras. No Gibby here. But I remember just
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  Speaker 1: like the commodity and then the overall feel that it
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  Speaker 1: still wasn't enough. Yeah, but at the that time, that's
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  Speaker 1: all I feel like I could do. And today, friends,
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  Speaker 1: we are actually going to talk about the continued protests
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  Speaker 1: in Poland. But it's been several several days since the
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  Speaker 1: protests as a women's strike movement has taken back the
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  Speaker 1: streets once again to protest Poland's current almost total ban
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  Speaker 1: in the country. Yeah, and we talked in a previous
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  Speaker 1: episode on what was known as one of the largest
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  Speaker 1: pro abortions rates protests in the country due to the
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  Speaker 1: possibility of the ultial conservative administration's proposal of the near
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  Speaker 1: total ban on abortion. But now as we've hit this
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  Speaker 1: new year running, the law has been ruled by the
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  Speaker 1: Constitutional Tribunal, which is made up of those appointed by
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  Speaker 1: the Conservative Party of Law and Justice or the p
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  Speaker 1: I S and published to come into effect. Right, So
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  Speaker 1: the current ruling party of Poland, known as the Law
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  Speaker 1: and Justice Party or p i S, came into power
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  Speaker 1: in with the promise of quote, returned to more conservative
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  Speaker 1: social norms and has expected. Abortion is one of the
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  Speaker 1: biggest and highly divisive issue within this predominantly Catholic country,
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  Speaker 1: and the Law and Justice Party made sure to take
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  Speaker 1: up that home. Just as a reminder. Though there are
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  Speaker 1: only one thousand legal abortions a year in Poland, women's
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  Speaker 1: organizations estimate the number of annual illegal abortions or abortions
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  Speaker 1: obtained abroad could be as high as eighty thousand to
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  Speaker 1: one and twenty thousand of those one thousand legal abortions
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  Speaker 1: of them were granted due to severe fetal defect, which
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  Speaker 1: is a reason this new ruling has done away with.
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  Speaker 1: So it's getting rid of that, which means that the
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  Speaker 1: only legal justifications for abortion as this goes into effect
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  Speaker 1: are the women's life and health if it's at risk,
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  Speaker 1: or if the pregnancy was due to reap or insist right,
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  Speaker 1: and of course there's still more stipulations on top of that,
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  Speaker 1: and just put in here. Since October, which was when
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  Speaker 1: the initial ruling was proposed and was about to be
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  Speaker 1: published and put into effect, many of the doctors, even
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  Speaker 1: though it hadn't come into effect quite yet, we're afraid
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  Speaker 1: to eat do any abortions at all. So they stopped
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  Speaker 1: altogether because they were afraid that they would be fined
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  Speaker 1: or at risk to be jailed, which is also a
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  Speaker 1: part of this new law that if any doctors are
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  Speaker 1: found to do in quote illegal abortion, they will be jailed.
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  Speaker 1: So that's something to think on too. And the Polish
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  Speaker 1: Constitution Tribunal justified its ruling which framed it as quote
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  Speaker 1: being about defending the life and an unborn child, so
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  Speaker 1: that was the unconstitutional ruling of why this should be
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  Speaker 1: done with, and Polish legislators made sure to push the
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  Speaker 1: narrative to include language like child and mother rather than
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  Speaker 1: feed us and practical what woman when talking about abortion. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: this is an attack and a narrative that is often
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  Speaker 1: used as a strategy to villainize those who are pro abortion.
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  Speaker 1: Right now, five or the fifteen judges at the court
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  Speaker 1: did dissent. Some of their issues with it were not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily about the ruling and the substance, but the mere
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  Speaker 1: justification of it. And so after this Constitutional Tribunal published it,
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  Speaker 1: the government published the ruling, which effectively makes it into law.
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  Speaker 1: Right um and this band has been the first change
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  Speaker 1: that's been made since in Poland, which was already fairly restrictive,
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  Speaker 1: and of course the sparked the nationwide protests in October.
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  Speaker 1: Though it seemed it had stopped the law from coming
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  Speaker 1: into place, with perhaps an opportunity to discuss and further
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  Speaker 1: debate the ruling, the ruling was published, making the band law.
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  Speaker 1: And I know the leaders did have a meeting, but
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  Speaker 1: apparently not a meeting with any of the people who
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  Speaker 1: were of the centrist or the left leaning parties. It
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  Speaker 1: was kind of like, hey, we're having a meeting, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: that's it, but no nobody of note who would be
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  Speaker 1: in the side of pro abortion was present. Right protests
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  Speaker 1: have continued. Thousands of activists have come together to relly
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  Speaker 1: against the ruling and law. Many of the activists have
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  Speaker 1: said that this is not only about abortion and the
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  Speaker 1: rights of people who can get pregnant, but also about
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  Speaker 1: the deeper implications of limiting human rights altogether. Right um And,
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  Speaker 1: though it's now I guess day seven and maybe one
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  Speaker 1: day one oh six and st the protests begin in October.
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  Speaker 1: The people of Poland continue even the arrest and threats
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  Speaker 1: have been made by the government. On Thursday, January, at
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  Speaker 1: least fourteen people were detained, including one of the leaders
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  Speaker 1: of the Women's Strike organization that helped organize the protest,
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  Speaker 1: Clemented us Uhanof, who was released on Saturday, January thirty
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  Speaker 1: and she was charged and found guilty in a very
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  Speaker 1: quick trial, including charges for trespassing and for nailing a
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  Speaker 1: poster to a door at the Constitional Court and warsaw
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  Speaker 1: you have put up a poster with the celebration of
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  Speaker 1: the new abortion laws in Argentina, which we recently talked about,
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  Speaker 1: as well as a way of expressing hope that Poland
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  Speaker 1: would also follow suit. The protesters have been met with
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  Speaker 1: police barricades and pepper spray, but they still persist. The
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  Speaker 1: government has not made any statements in regards to the
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  Speaker 1: new round of protests all over the nation, but they
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  Speaker 1: seem to continue to hold on to the statement release
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  Speaker 1: in October when they said people protesting the abortion band
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  Speaker 1: were que criminals and that their actions were irresponsible. During
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  Speaker 1: the pandemic, though they didn't seem to regard the band
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  Speaker 1: coming during a pandemic and limiting reproductive healthcare at this
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  Speaker 1: time as irresponsible right um, And there's the support for
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  Speaker 1: the protests around the world, including those near them. Many
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  Speaker 1: organizations have come together to help fund, transport or accompany
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  Speaker 1: many of those seeking safe abortions outside of Poland, such
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  Speaker 1: as going to countries where abortion is legal, specifically Argentina,
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  Speaker 1: as well as those who have come to protest with
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  Speaker 1: them in Poland. But for those of us who can't
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  Speaker 1: be there, there are ways to help, including bringing recognition
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  Speaker 1: to what is happening, as well as financially supporting the
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  Speaker 1: women's strike organizations, which we will put a link up
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  Speaker 1: too soon, but they are still protesting and and definitely
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  Speaker 1: still needing those to shine a light on what's happened
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  Speaker 1: in Poland. Yes, and as always, if there are any
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  Speaker 1: resources you want us to shout out, or if anyone's
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  Speaker 1: in Poland and wants to share your experience of what's
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  Speaker 1: going on, please let us know. You can email us
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  Speaker 1: at Stuff Media Mom Stuff at I heart media dot com.
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  Speaker 1: You can find us on Instagram at stuff I've Never
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  Speaker 1: Told You Are on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast. Thanks
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  Speaker 1: It's always to our super producer Christina. Thank you, thank you,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: thank you, and thanks to you for listening stuff I've
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