The 2020–2021 women's strike protests in Poland, commonly called the Women's Strike (Polish: Strajk Kobiet), were anti-government demonstrations and protests in Poland that began on 22 October 2020, in reaction to a ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal, mainly consisting of judges who were appointed by the ruling Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) dominated United Right, which tightened the law on abortion in Poland. The ruling made almost all cases of abortion illegal, including those cases in which the foetus had a severe and permanent disability, or an incurable and life-threatening disease. All-Poland Women's Strike was charged by the authorities for having illegally organised the protests.
On the evening of 22 October 2020, a wave of mass protests in opposition to the ruling commenced. In the biggest protest in the country since the end of the People's Republic during the revolutions of 1989, protesters opposed the interference of the Roman Catholic Church in public matters, and opposed the domination of all three branches of government by the ruling coalition.
Constitutional Tribunal abortion case
Background
On 7 January 1993, the Polish parliament passed the Law on Family Planning forbidding abortion, except if (1) the pregnancy poses a risk to the mother's life, (2) it is the result of a crime, or (3) there is a foetal impairment. In 1997, the Constitutional Tribunal headed by Andrzej Zoll ruled abortion on social grounds unconstitutional.
During the mid-2010s, about 80,000–200,000 Polish women carried out abortions (whether legal or illegal) per year according to the Federation for Women and Family Planning, or 8,000–13,000 according to the Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life. In the 2010s, about a quarter of all Polish women had terminated a pregnancy, according to Public Opinion Research Center in 2013, and Federation for Women and Family Planning in 2016. Abortion rates around the world ranged from about 10 to 40 per year per 1000 women aged 15–44 in the 2000s, "in all regions of the world, regardless of the status of abortion laws", according to Sedgh, Singh, Henshaw and Bankole in The Lancet. The number of legal abortions in Poland was about 1,000 legal abortions per year in the 2010s.
Because the Lower House elects constitutional judges, since the United Right took power in Poland in 2015, PiS' domination has expanded onto the judicial branch. This domination led to the 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis. The status of the tribunal continues to be disputed in February 2020 by some of its former judges and presidents.
In 2016, a citizen initiative was launched by anti-abortion movements such as Stop Aborcji [Stop Abortion] to tighten restrictions on abortions. It collected 830,000 signatures, forcing the Polish Parliament to discuss it. As the bill advanced further in parliamentary discussions, the All-Poland Women's Strike launched a protest movement branded "Black Protest" that attracted international coverage. After a few days, the PiS government let the bill die in committee.
The anti-abortion groups then started to oppose the constitutionality of the existing abortion law. Following the 2019 election, 119 members of the newly elected Sejm, coming from the PiS, Confederation, and Polish Coalition parliamentary groups, submitted a referral to the Constitutional Tribunal on whether or not abortions of pregnancies unrelated to rape or not threatening the mother's life, which they call "eugenic", are constitutional. In July 2018, a wave of nonviolent demonstrations for 3 weeks against an abortion ban started and led to the withdrawal of the bill. In December 2019, a muzzle law was created and sparked popular and widespread street protests for 2–3 weeks until it was withdrawn.
The signatories argued that this provision violates Constitutional protections of human dignity (Article 30), the right to life (Article 38) or the prohibition against discrimination (Article 32). During the year, the Constitutional Tribunal heard or received arguments and legal interventions on the question, one of which the European branch of the American Center for Law and Justice planned to submit.
By 2020, fourteen of the Constitutional Tribunal's fifteen judges had been appointed by the Sejm since the 2015 return of Law and Justice to power. Its domination over all branches of power has created a political crisis that has led the European Commission to refer Poland to the European Court of Justice.
Ruling of unconstitutionality
In an 11–2 decision announced on 22 October 2020 and published on the next day, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled unconstitutional the provision of the 1993 Act permitting abortion when the fetus is predicted to have a "disability or incurable illness". The ruling found it violated the Constitutional protection of human dignity.
The ruling did not affect the other two cases of the existing law, meaning that pregnancy can still be terminated if (1) it is the result of a crime (rape or incest), or (2) the woman's life or health is at risk. In practice, the provision that was ruled unconstitutional represented the overwhelming majority of the 1,000 to 2,000 abortions legally done in Poland each year. In 2019, 1074 of the 1110 official abortions were, according to the Polish Ministry of Health, cases of fetal defects. Among these, 271 were for Down's syndrome without other anomalies, and 60 cases were for Patau syndrome or Edward's syndrome without other anomalies.
Protests
Timeline
October 2020
Street protests began on 22 October 2020, following the ruling, and continued throughout the weekend. Women's Strike leaders Marta Lempart, Klementyna Suchanow and Agnieszka Czerederecka, who played a key role in the protests, were legally charged for their role in the protests.
Street protests took place in 60 Polish towns on the night of 23 October, and again on 24 October 2020. Protests took place in town centers, in front of PiS offices, and offices of religious administrations, as well as in front of the homes of both far-right activist Kaja Godek and PiS politician Krystyna Pawłowicz.
On 25 October 2020, protesters staged sit-ins in Catholic churches. They held banners, throwing leaflets with postulates and women's strike symbols, disrupting Sunday Mass in several cities, including Katowice and Poznań, and churches across the country were vandalized.
On 26 October 2020, protesters in 150 Polish towns and cities participated.
On 27 October 2020, the Women's Strike presented a list of demands: (1) fix the situations of the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court and the Ombudsman, (2) amend the budget – with more funds for health protection and assistance for entrepreneurs – (3) enact full women's rights – legal abortion, sex education, contraception – (4) stop the financing of the Catholic Church from the state budget, (5) end religious instruction in schools, and (6) enact the resignation of the government. Furthermore, they announced the creation of a Consultative Council, modelled on the Belarusian Coordination Council, a platform for dialogue to resolve the sociopolitical situation in Poland.
On 28 October 2020, there was a nationwide women's strike under the slogan "I'm not going to work" (Polish: Nie idę do roboty). Many workplaces and offices allowed their employees to take part in the protest. Besides universities, local media including Gazeta.pl, Gazeta Wyborcza, NaTemat.pl, and Newsweek Polska engaged in the protest by publishing editorials supporting the movement. Companies, including mBank, also joined. Far-right and nationalist militias violently removed protesters from churches. According to the Chief Commander of Police Jarosław Szymczyk, approximately 430,000 people participated in 410 protests across the country.
On 30 October 2020, around 100,000 people participated in a mass protest in Warsaw. Zoliborz, a district where Jarosław Kaczyński lives, was blocked by the police who did not let the protest reach his house.
November 2020
On 1 November 2020, many protests were related to the Prime Minister's decision to close cemeteries from 31 October to 2 November 2020, which affected flower producers and sellers (All Saints Day was observed that weekend). Flowers and candles were placed under PiS offices all over Poland. On November 2, the protests took place, among others, in Wroclaw.
On 3 November 2020, further demonstrations took place, some in reference to the announcement by the Minister of Education and Science, Przemysław Czarnek, concerning the consequences for teachers who were to encourage their students to participate in the protests. In Warsaw, the police intervened against two artists who undressed in front of the Presidential Palace as a form of support for the protesting women.
On 6 November 2020, a big OSK protest took place in Zakopane.
On 8 November 2020, the 15-metre-high steel Christian cross on the Great Giewont peak in the Tatra Mountains was briefly covered by a banner showing the OSK red lightning symbol and the text "Domestic violence is not a tradition." The banner almost completely covered the cross. Images of the cross covered by the banner were distributed on the Internet. According to Gazeta Krakowska, the context of the images was that the Zakopane city council was the only local council that had not introduced legislative actions against domestic violence over the previous ten years, and it justified its decision on the grounds that the legislation would violate family traditions. In mid-2020, the cross had previously been used to display an election poster for Andrzej Duda and a rainbow flag representing LGBT rights.
The 9 November 2020, protests in Warsaw included slogans against the new Minister of Science and Education, Przemysław Czarnek, like "We want education not indoctrination" and "Czarnek, go to hell" (Polish: Czarnek, idź do diabła, lit. 'Czarnek, go to the devil'). Cat and mouse games between police trying to block the protest and protesters changing paths occurred throughout the evening. The protesters called for Czarnek to resign, for the striking Teachers' demands to be fulfilled, for university autonomy, for "accurate" (Polish: rzetelnej) sexual education, for the removal of sexist, anti-LGBT and racist content from schoolbooks and the removal of religious instruction from schools. Several participants whose identities were checked by police refused to pay on-the-spot fines and one woman was thrown on the ground by police. One protester, Gabriela, spoke in defence of a woman who was being interviewed by police. Gabriela stated to a police officer, "You're not behaving like a policeman!" and she "heatedly" discussed the situation of Polish police with him. She was detained overnight and charged under Article 226 of the Polish criminal code for insulting a police officer, and under Article 224 para. 2 for using "violence or a threat" to prevent a police officer from carrying out lawful action.
On 18 November 2020, 3000 police officers surrounded the Sejm, which was starting a new sitting, in preparation for an expected protest. OKO.press interpreted the high number of police to Jarosław Kaczyński's personal "trauma" induced by December 2016 protests at the Sejm, to Kaczyński's anger at police insufficiently controlling the October–November 2020 protests, and to senior police officials Jarosław Szymczyk and Paweł Dobodziej worrying about keeping their jobs despite Kaczyński's anger with the police. The police cordon around the Sejm made it difficult for members to access the building. According to member of Sejm Krzysztof Gawkowski, police used force against the deputy Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty.
The protest started at 18:00 local time near the Sejm. Protesters moved from the Sejm to Three Crosses Square, moved along nearby streets in central Warsaw and tried to regroup back at Three Crosses Square. Marta Lempart of OSK described the police as "Kaczyński's private security force, pretending to be police". The protesters continued to the Telewizja Polska (TVP) headquarters at 17 Woronicza Street. Slogans included "Let's block TV-PiS", "Minsk, Warsaw, same situation" and "Polish police are protecting a dictator". By 21:00, five protesters had been detained on Piękna Street near the Sejm.