News Poland and Its Abortion Rights

Poland and Its Abortion Rights Angélique Chu

Throughout the past few weeks or so, you may have heard of nationwide protests in Poland.

On October 22nd, the Constitutional Tribunal instituted a law declaring that abortions for malformed fetuses to be unconstitutional, thus banning what few abortions were allowed in the country.

Thousands of Polish women and their allies have taken to the streets to protest the government’s decision; protests beginning the same day the law was announced.

On the next day, people Angélique Chu

If you are somewhat active on social media, you may have heard of the term SARS, and no, I am not referring to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

In Nigeria, it stands for Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) and it is a special branch of their police force. Throughout Nigeria, citizens are calling upon the government to finally disband the squad and to acknowledge its human rights abuses.

SARS was founded in late 1992 to deal with armed robbery, car snatching, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and

took to the streets in 60 Polish cities. On October 24th, people protested in more public spaces and even in front of homes of far-right activists. The following day, protestors staged sit-ins in places of worship, disrupting mass in several cities.

On October 27th, the All-Poland Women's Strike revealed a list of demands which included the following: ● Full women's rights: legal abortion, sex education, and contraception, ● Interpreting the Constitutional Tribunal's other violent crimes.

However, critics say that the squad has done more harm than good. In June of this year, the organization Amnesty International documented at least 82 alleged cases of torture, illtreatment and extra-judicial execution by them between January 2017 and May 2020.

In 2017, Nigerian activists began the #ENDSARS movement in protest of police brutality. In October of this year, a second wave picked up after a video of a young man being shot by the poruling as stated by the president of the tribunal, Julia Przyłębska, as her personal testimony instead of a legal ruling, ● "The return of a real (independent) Constitutional Tribunal," ● "The return to a neutral (independent) Supreme Court of Poland that is not controlled by PiS," ● "The appointment of a real (independent) Polish Ombudsman to succeed Adam Bodnar, who reached the end of his term," ● The overthrow of the rule of the Law and Justice Party.

By October 28th, approximately 430,000 people had participated in protests in 430 cities throughout the country.

The movement garnered nationwide support under the slogan: "I'm not going to work." Many workplaces lice was posted on social media.

The police allegedly took the victim’s car prior to the altercation. Two days later, after this initial video went viral, another report emerged alleging that the same squad killed upcoming musician Daniel Chibuike.

According to eyewitnesses, the latter and a friend have allowed their employees to protest. Universities, several local media outlets, and a few companies, including MBank have also voiced their support for the strikes.

Following the mass protests, President Andrzej Duda unveiled a bill that would restore legal abortion under three grounds: “[1] because of a threat to the life and health of the mother, [2] because of rape or incest and [3] because of severe and irreversible damage to the fetus which leads to the death of the child."

Despite this proposal, the government has yet to renounce the law and has chosen to delay its publicaof his were approached by SARS officers, which lead them to flee the scene. While in pursuit, the officers fired rounds which ultimately killed Chibuike.

Following these accounts, on October 8th, nationwide protests erupted throughout the country. In response, the Nigeria Police Force threw tear gas, used water cannons, and shot at tion and implementation as announced on November 3rd.

As of the writing of this article, November 8th, the protests are still ongoing. However, this is not the first-time protests for abortion have occurred in Poland. I n 2015, a bill proposing the outright ban of all abortions was rejected. The former led to the “Czarny Protest” (Black Protest), in 2016. when restrictions surrounding abortions were tightened.

With the ongoing situation, there are still developments to come, and Poland must not be forgotten.

According to Amnesty unarmed civilians in several cities.

Throughout the past month or so, there have been 51 civilian causalities compared to the deaths of 11 police officers and 8 soldiers, at least one (Jimoh Isiaq) of which was directly caused by the unnecessary force from the police.

On October 11th, activists presented a list of 5 demands that were to be met by the federal Nigerian government. The list comprised of the following:

The government responded by disbanding SARS that same day. However, many were skeptical, as this was the fourth time that they announced the disbanding of the branch. President Muhammadu Buhari announced that there

International on October 29th, protestors have faced excessive force from the police and have been un-

lawfully detained without access to a lawyer. On top of police interference, there have been non-state agitators who have identified themselves with white armbands.

These agitators were seen attacking protestors and even pepper spraying former minister and member of parliament Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz described the agitators as neoNazis who were encouraged by Poland’s de facto leader Jarosław Kaczyński. During the commotion, he noted that there was a lack of po-

What is Happening in Nigeria with SARS

lice presence.

would be police reforms and a federal council mandated that states had to set up compensation funds for

victims of police brutality.

On October 14th, a new Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team was announced to replace the supposed gap left with the dissolution of SARS. Critics say the move is just a rebranding of the SARS branch.

Nigerians continue to protest despite lockdown and curfew measures. Their demands have yet to be met.