Artist was humiliated by the authorities and lambasted by the press after terminating a pregnancy, but refuses to be silenced
From the article:
One night, two weeks after I’d taken the pills, I was at home when suddenly there was a loud banging on my front door and shouts of “police!”.
I had just come off the phone with my psychologist. It had been a stressful time and that night I’d had a panic attack. I’ve had these many times before and I called my psychologist for help. She asked me about any new medication I’d been taking so I told her about the abortion pills.
She was calm and told me that she was calling a paramedic. Instead she called the police. Later, the recording of her conversation with the police was leaked to the press, where she can be heard telling them that I’d had an abortion and was suicidal, though I specifically told her I wasn’t.
I have a lot to say about my psychologist, none of it fit for print, but suffice to say I trusted her completely and she violated that trust and our confidentiality.
They took me to the emergency department at the hospital. While I sat in a corner crying, the doctors there told the police that they could look after me and that they could leave.
This wasn’t what they wanted to hear. They took me to another hospital with a gynaecological department, where more police were waiting for me. All this time they never said a word about what I was supposed to have done wrong.
The doctors at the second hospital seemed intimidated by the police. They were told to take my blood and give me a vaginal exam. My consent didn’t seem to matter. The doctor who was examining me let me know he didn’t want to get involved. “I do not care about any of this,” he told me.
After the examination, the police got more aggressive. Female officers took me to a gynaecologist’s office and the doctor left me. They told me to strip naked but I refused to take off my knickers. They made me squat and cough in front of them. Why would they do this but to frighten and humiliate me?
They threatened me with a cavity search. With my back to the wall, crying and naked except for my knickers, I felt like a hunted animal. I screamed at them, “What do you even want from me?”Inhuman
Just so we’re all on the same page:
THIS HAPPENED IN JULY.
Just in case anyone wants to pin the blame on the new government.
The controversy is theoretically still ongoing for this case, but on the down low, as just one part of the backlash against the restrictions put on abortions in Poland 3 years ago.
The new gov’t does seem to holding back on their election promise to change the laws, so they are part of the problem.
It’s been two weeks. They’ve been in power for two weeks.
And you have to understand, this isn’t caused by the right-wing passing some law, oh no, no… The Constitutional Court declared abortion unconstitutional. To change this, the new government needs to either change the constitution (requires a massive majority in Parliament), or completely rebuild the current justice system, replacing the CC justices responsible for that ruling (which will take a long time). Any attempt to do it with a simple act will get struck down by the right-wing in just the same way.
That is nothing to say about the fact that about a third of government coalition doesn’t want complete legalisation, only a return to the old “compromise”
EDIT: And they did manage to do a lot in those two weeks so far, it’s not like this is the only thing they promised to do.
Can they decriminalize it? I understand that legalization is very tricky institutionally, but there is a vast spectrum of improvements they can make to go from the hell described by this woman to something much more civilized.
A: Read my comment again, it explains what happened, and what can be done to change this.
B: The situation described was under the previous government. They were (for all intents and purposes) the same as Republicans when it came to abortion.
The Polish society at large remains split (unfortunately), and the part that doesn’t want legalisation of abortion is also most politically active in terms of voter mobilisation (i.e. they tend to move their asses on election days) and the moderate right (which is part of the current government) doesn’t want to potentially alienate those voters.
Right now it seems that the best course of action will be a decriminalisation, and a return to the previous status quo: abortion is legal when the life of women is at stake. This would mean that while getting one wouldn’t be illegal, Polish hospitals wouldn’t give you one. Any liberalisation beyond that seems to be an issue for a national referendum, which the moderate right is neutral on (i.e. they would allow one to happen, and would not stop things if liberalisation won)
The new government just sacked the entire staff of TPV, the previous right wing government’s propaganda TV station.
I have a lot to say about my psychologist, none of it fit for print, but suffice to say I trusted her completely and she violated that trust and our confidentiality.
Fuck it. Share it anyways. This psychologist is a piece of shit, and the fact that they weren’t named in the article is bullshit.
Psychologist should get publically shamed to hell and back. Even if Poland doesn’t have client confidentiality (and that’s a big if), she still has basic ethics of her profession to uphold. Hope the courts of Poland throw this one out.
Usual psychiatry ethics allows for reporting to the cops IF someone has said they’re planning harm to themselves or others.
Kind of sounds like the psychiatrist played around with that in order to report.
Hopefully they lose their license over it but I won’t hold my breath.
played around with that
*lied
Yeah, betrayal can go both ways. Save others from this bologna.
This is coming to the US.
They keep getting slapped down every time they try.
i hope their new government will turn this around. i stand with this woman.
this is what you get when conservatives are in power.
I hope so too, but - from the article:
In my country, many women didn’t know they could not be criminalised for their abortions. Abortion laws kill women. Politicians talked about changing our laws in the run-up to the election. It became a bargaining chip. Now that they’re about to form a government, they have become silent on this issue.
Biggest issue is these stupid abortion laws exist.
Because Poland is backwards
Not all of Poland tho. PIS(S) did get ~10% less votes last election, so it’s getting better.
They’re still in first place.
Eh fuck them all. Fucking thieves and lowlifes.
wouldnt use the word backwards here, it implies its unfixable
so this person was swatted by their psychologist. the psychologist called the police and lied to get this person raided. that’s swatting.
What a piece of shit doctor
Welcome to Poland
This is the best summary I could come up with:
I’ve been involved in LGBTQ+ and pro-choice activism in Poland for years, I know my rights and knew I wasn’t breaking the law.
One night, two weeks after I’d taken the pills, I was at home when suddenly there was a loud banging on my front door and shouts of “police!”.
Later, the recording of her conversation with the police was leaked to the press, where she can be heard telling them that I’d had an abortion and was suicidal, though I specifically told her I wasn’t.
Nude pictures I had published as part of my work as a performance artist were circulated on the internet to say I was a deviant and a satanist.
The title of my latest photography series is “Pani Joanna from Kraków … [fill in the blank]”.
I paid a steep price for speaking out, but I gained a platform, from which I could loudly refuse to consent to the intimidation tactics of the authorities.
The original article contains 1,051 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 85%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This one’s not a good summary, OP’s text box was better.
