- cross-posted to:
- gentle@europe.pub
- cross-posted to:
- gentle@europe.pub
A few weeks ago, the first abortion clinic in Poland, AboTak, opened in Warsaw. From the very first days of its operation, it has faced not only huge interest and support from women, but also – unfortunately – brutal attacks from far-right and Catholic circles. The clinic’s employees – as they say – fear for their safety every day.
– We have been struggling with problems from the very beginning. It is about the Catholic Taliban, religious fundamentalists and pro-life movements, which do not allow us to work in peace, even though we are doing nothing wrong – Emilia Niemiec from AboTak tells us at the beginning. Acid, noise, threats. “They are waiting for a tragedy to happen” Mariusz Gzyl: Today we are at AboTak – the first abortion clinic in Poland. This place has been operating for only a dozen or so weeks, and it has already become the target of constant attacks.
From the very beginning, we have been dealing with violence from fundamentalist circles – mainly those associated with the pro-life movement, PiS, the Confederation or people like Grzegorz Braun. Our doors were doused with acid twice. In March and again a few days ago. The police? They took the report. That’s it. Butyric acid has irritating properties – to the skin, the respiratory tract. I was cleaning up after the last attack and after two days I started to feel dizzy, nauseous, have trouble concentrating. The same could happen to someone on the street – a child, an elderly person, even an animal. But the police do not take it seriously.
Protests. Every day. Sometimes it’s quieter, but most often there’s shouting, threats, noise exceeding 120 decibels. It’s more than a jackhammer. There are banners with dismembered fetuses, although children from a nearby kindergarten and school see it. Police? They respond… with the answer that “there’s nothing they can do.”
We sent dozens of letters. We met with officials. We talked to Vice President Aldona Machnowska. The effect? Zero. I even heard: “but someone from you has already been there.” So one woman is enough for the entire community? Is this really how social dialogue is supposed to look like?