In Denmark, rights activists bemoan Poland's ‘anti-women’ ruling

Scandinavian state faces a moment of reckoning with its delayed MeToo movement

AARHUS:

“Let women decide for themselves!” This was a popular chant reverberating in a mass demonstration against Poland’s anti-abortion law in Aarhus, Denmark with a great number of attendees pressing on the need to safeguard women’s rights in a predominantly catholic country.

Women’s rights activists in Denmark took out rallies in major cities to protest the ruling by Poland’s top court that nearly banned all abortions. Although its implementation has now been delayed, the decision has become a major flashpoint with some of the biggest protests since the fall of Communism that still continue from time to time, raising a new debate over the state of women’s rights and the increasing curbs over them in Poland and beyond.

The decision effectively banned legal abortions and allowed terminations only in cases of rape or incest or if the mother's health is at risk, tightening the noose around already strict abortion laws in the European country.

The proposed legislation is blamed on an influential church and the incumbent far-right government led by the Law and Justice party that is renowned for pushing its populist narrative and supporting pro-life arguments. The party is accused of eroding democratic norms and even appointing its own judges and engineering its candidate into the tribunal’s presidency to get the desired verdict.

Nonetheless, the ruling has sent shock waves among activists and female citizens in Denmark with many expressing concern that the move is an attack on women’s right to choose and live their lives.

“It’s crazy how we protested in the 70s about abortion in Denmark and like 50 years later we’re doing this again for Polish women,” says a Danish supporter of women’s rights from the Socialist Youth Front, Andrea Runge, stressing why more Danes needed to support women in Poland. “Taking away this [abortion] right is just awful...people have always tried to control women all over the world,” she adds.

Runge urged the people particularly in Denmark to support the cause and organisations working for it through donation and hashtags on social media.

Another women’s rights activist and Danish student Sara Viuf says no government should dictate what women need to decide for themselves. She contends that Poland was very supportive when Denmark legalised abortion, hence it was essential to continue to show unity nationally and internationally.

“We are not going to tolerate this new legislation. I think more than about saving children, it’s about controlling women and it doesn’t make sense to me,” Viuf asserts. “We can push them [the government] to not go through with this legislation. If we show from many sides that this law is unacceptable, they [Polish decision makers] might completely give into that.”

Viuf further emphasises that more people should be educated about birth control, reiterating that “men who are never going to be pregnant cannot decide if a woman should give birth or not”.

Much in agreement with Viuf, another women’s rights supporter Rosa Jensen says even though Denmark is a free country where women have a right to have an abortion, it was imperative to stand up for sisters who didn’t have that privilege and are fighting to reserve that right.

“Fortunately, Enhedslisten — a party in Denmark — is trying to make it possible for the Polish women to come to the country to have an abortion,” she mentions while lauding the development. “When we couldn’t get it done in Denmark, the Danish women would go to Poland for abortion so it’s important to keep fighting for the basic right.”

Danish Women's Society, a prominent women’s rights organisation in Denmark also expressed concern over the Polish ruling but is optimistic that protests are yielding results.

The organisation is working together with Amnesty International to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights and together is striving for the EU to take a stand about the Polish issue. The body is further recommending citizens to sign the petition of The Danish Family Planning Association to protest against the proposed ban.

“We think it is a disgrace and a huge step back for women’s rights. It is a clear violation of basic human rights,” affirms Signe Gissel Schmidt, Vice President of Danish Women's Society. “National and international pressure paid off and we need to continue protesting.”

Women’s rights and democratic backsliding

Explaining why abortion laws were being tightened, Regitze Helene Frederiksen, a PhD fellow focusing on law and policies in Eastern European countries at the University of Copenhagen affirms that there are multiple factors involved but it is part of the bigger picture of what essentially is “democratic backsliding” in Poland that is restricting humans rights, including women’s rights.

“We have a government [in Poland] that has a very conservative and illiberal kind of agenda. They [Law and Justice Party] stated very early on after coming to power in 2015 that they wanted to take the Polish society to ‘the right way of living’ and the role of a woman was to be a wife and a mother,” explains Frederiksen, adding that the government is very much backed by the catholic church that still has a great deal of political influence.

The church was also part of formulating original abortion laws back in 1993 and has been more directly involved in political issues since 2015.

She further states that the 28th October ruling stated that the current abortion laws of Poland were not fitting with the Constitution, especially Article 38 that stipulates that the law has to protect every kind of life, including an unborn life, leading to an “abortion war” in the form of fierce protests.

Perpetuation of abortion stigma

Researchers contend that abortion stigma continues to impact women by promoting anti-abortion sentiments and restrictions in societies, including Poland, even prompting authorities to impose restrictions over it.

Terming it a “concealable” stigma, they affirm that it also affects people involved in abortion provision, including doctors and nurses and those who support women in this pursuit, e.g partners and family members, calling more attention towards it in order to address abortion-related issues.

Frederiksen observes that even in countries with a free or a very “liberal abortion” like in Denmark, there’s still stigma attached as a lot of women feel some kind of shame with having an abortion done, terming it something “still not publically talked about”.

“Then we move to a setting such as Poland that is so deeply rooted in a religious understanding of family and women’s laws and where the vast majority of people belong to the catholic church,” she continues.

“This kind of stigma [in places like Poland] will naturally be even bigger where the official government policy also states that abortion should be only done in very restrictive cases,” she adds, affirming that this stigma has led to women feel that they cannot go through with these terminations and won’t be accepted by society if they do so.

MeToo reckoning in Denmark

Despite being revered for its openness and equality, and being ranked as the best country for women this year, women’s rights activists think the issue of gender is as relevant as ever in Denmark, foreseeing that there is still a long way to go in terms of attaining full gender equality.

The Danish Women's Society further indicates that domestic violence and rape are predominant issues in the country that need to be highlighted.

Earlier, sexual harassment scandals too wreaked havoc in the country as many women came forward with their stories in what was Denmark’s delayed MeToo movement, alleging that harassment was a severe problem at workplaces in the Danish media and political profession.

Schmidt believes that the Metoo movement is shedding light on sexism in Denmark and can point towards greater problems.

“We want to stress that gender-based violence is still a huge problem in our country. The Metoo movement is a work tool we can use to cast light upon this issue,” she states, pledging to continue working to create equal status and opportunities for women, culturally, politically and individually.

Talking about progress related to women empowerment and the many challenges women still face in a “free countries” like Denmark, including a stigma and a lack of support for abortions in some cases, Schmidt adds that from time to time the topic is still quite controversial.

“In general, I think the Danish people support the women’s right to have an abortion. But it is from time to time still a controversial theme and these days we witness it because of the developments in Poland,” she contends, adding that the media want it to be a subject of debate but people don’t really consider it an issue.

Schmidt elaborates that some conservative organisations in Denmark are against the right to abortion but people in general support it, reflecting on the Danish society’s overall perception towards the matter.