Abortion Without Borders on frontlines of Poland abortion ban

Brut America

"They've been chanting our phone number."  Abortion Without Borders is helping women in Poland receive abortion services amid a nationwide ban ... and the word is spreading.

Transcript

00:00Fuck!

00:00Fuck the peace!

00:08COVID didn't stop us from helping people get abortions.

00:11And I got to tell you, this, you know, constitutional tribunal, that's not going to stop us either.

00:23Fuck the peace!

00:26We are here because I can't afford an abortion should never be the only reason that somebody

00:45becomes a parent.

00:46So we are here to help people who have decided that abortion is the best, the best decision

00:53for them.

00:54They live in a country where abortion is not possible for them and the only thing standing

00:58in their way is financial assistance and logistics.

01:00When we say abortion without borders, for us borders aren't just geographical, they're

01:09all the obstacles that stand between somebody who wants an abortion and the abortion that

01:13they want.

01:14So the thing about our abortion fund is we work with campaigning organizations and we

01:19can't wait for them to change laws.

01:22They're the cure, we're the band aid.

01:36So currently about 1000 abortions are done legally in Poland every year and 98% of them

01:45are for cases of severe fetal malformation and that is what this tribunal decided was

01:53no longer legal because they said it is against the constitution.

01:57This is a big thing because most people think that if a child is going to be severely disabled,

02:03possibly not even survive the experience of birth, that the humane thing is to allow a

02:09termination that the Polish government is saying, no, you need to go through labor and

02:13delivery.

02:23Making abortion against the law or criminalizing it does not stop or even reduce the number

02:29of abortions.

02:30In fact, countries with more restrictive abortion laws have higher numbers of abortion.

02:37It's just a matter of how those abortions are obtained.

02:41And years ago, a lot of those abortions were obtained in very dangerous methods.

02:59The amazing thing about the people out in the street is that they have been chanting

03:03in the protests, abortion without borders, they've also been chanting our phone number

03:08and people have taken it upon themselves to spray paint our phone number literally everywhere.

03:15The Polish helpline is blown up with calls from people, some people who are in the situation

03:22right now where they're pregnant and they need help and some people who are terrified

03:26about what might happen in the future.

03:38What's happening right now is basically a repeat of the Black Monday protests that were

03:42in 2016.

03:43And actually, they tried to do this exact thing in the middle of the pandemic, and people

03:49still came out, you know, they protested in their cars, they put signs up in their windows.

03:54I think the fact that they've actually gone and done it has really outraged people.

03:59What I would say to those conservative parties is look in the streets right now, those are

04:02the voters.

04:03My hope is that this is a turning point for abortion rights in Poland.

04:21The war on abortion rights and abortion access in the U.S. has been going on for a long time.

04:27The U.S. is a perfect example of a good law, but no access.

04:32Because states, they chip and chip and chip and chip with, you know, all these targeted

04:36laws against abortion providers, and doing things that make it really, really difficult.

04:40And basically, no place is it more true that women with money have options and women without

04:44money, have babies or, you know, go to Google and hopefully find safe, reliable abortion

04:52pills.

04:53And the new makeup of the Supreme Court is terrifying, not just for abortion rights,

05:00but for, I would say, all rights.

05:03But, you know, Abortion Support Network and Abortion Without Borders grew out of the abortion

05:09fund movement in the United States.

05:11There have been groups of people helping people get abortions since before Roe v. Wade.

05:18The resistance is ready.

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