POLAND: Abortion Law Changes & more – 5th Sep 2024

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 5th of September twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Two months ago, we reported that the parliament rejected a proposal to legalize abortion. Well, as an alternative, on Friday, the 30th of August, the Health Ministry updated the abortion guidelines.

Despite the law allowing a woman to have a legal abortion if her pregnancy endangered her health, or was a result of rape, during the rule of the Law and Justice government, hospitals were hesitant to perform abortions. The previous administration didn’t support abortions and wanted to limit them as much as possible due to their conservative views, and hospitals didn’t want any trouble.

To break away from this situation, the Health Ministry updated its guidelines and warned that hospitals that hesitate to perform abortions will receive a fine of 130,000 dollars. Also, the ministry said the threat to a woman's health, including mental health, is sufficient to have a legal abortion and that the law does not require the threat to be immediate or exceptionally severe.

On the same day, the Education Ministry announced that they created a fund to supply free menstrual products to schools. On the 13th of September, the program will start as a pilot, and in the first phase, it will aim to provide menstrual hygiene products to at least 500 public and private schools. Schools must apply individually if they want to be part of the program.

In an update to a story we covered in previous shows, two weeks ago, the Education Ministry decided to reduce the number of religious classes due to a lower participation rate from students, and this upset the Church and religion teachers.

This week, two different reports supported the decision of the Ministry of Education. The first report from the Center for Public Opinion Research showed that while in twenty ten, ninety-three percent of students were attending religion classes, this percentage dropped to fifty-four percent in twenty twenty-two. Even though there aren’t reports for twenty twenty-three and twenty twenty-four, experts predicted a further decrease. The second report by the online media outlet Wprost Weekly showed that fifty-two percent of parents are against religion in schools. Only 27% supported them.

The government is preparing to integrate another EU law in Poland. According to the plan, the Internal Security Agency will be able to remove any online content associated with terrorism without a court decision. Right now, Polish security agencies cannot remove any content without a court allowing them to do so, which makes combating terrorism online very slow. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that similar regulations have already been implemented in all European countries except Poland, Portugal, and Slovenia. Internet users can still go to court to object if their content is removed. The government will send the plan to the parliament after its summer break.

Speaking of Europe, on Wednesday, the 4th, PM Tusk visited the Moldovian capital to meet with Prime Minister Dorian Recean and President Maia Sandu. Previously, Moldova applied to become a member of the EU, and it is currently a candidate country. Tusk promised that his government would help Moldova become a member of the EU. A candidate country has to comply with EU standards before official acceptance, such as no corruption and a developed democracy with separation of powers. He also said Poland has become one of Moldova’s main trading partners and that they will further develop their economic relations.

Since we mentioned the EU, the government has been preparing to integrate another EU law into Poland. According to the plan, the Internal Security Agency will be able to remove any content associated with terrorism from online without a court decision. Right now, Polish security agencies cannot remove any content without a court allowing them to do so, which makes combating terrorism online very slow. Tusk said that similar regulations have already been implemented in all European countries except Poland, Portugal, and Slovenia. Internet users can still go to court to object if their content is removed. The government will send the plan to the parliament after its summer break.

Moving on to security. On Friday, the 30th of August, Major Michał Fiszer, a Polish military expert and pilot, said that the current government headed by Tusk is in the same line on defense and national security as the previous administration, despite all its differences with the Law and Justice government. For instance, Tusk’s administration did not cancel any defense contract signed by Law and Justice. Fiszer said Poland continues preparations for a possible war with Russia, that is, if Russia fully occupies Ukraine. Moreover, this month, Tusk announced that twenty twenty-five will be the year that the government will spend the most money on defense.

On a related note, recall that last week, a Russian military drone violated Polish airspace. On Monday, the 2nd, Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s Foreign Minister, said that the country should shoot down Russian missiles or drones when they are in Ukrainian airspace if they are heading towards Polish airspace. According to international laws, a country can shoot down a missile only when it enters its airspace; however, if two neighboring countries, like Poland and Ukraine, agree, then it is possible to shoot down a missile when it is in the neighbor’s airspace. When Ukraine supported the proposal, Russia threatened Poland, saying that if it shot down Russian missiles in Ukraine, Poland would face retaliation. Also, Jens Stoltenberg, the former NATO Secretary-General, dismissed Sikorski’s proposal because it could lead to a military confrontation between Russia and Poland. Now the Polish government is trying to get NATO's approval and bring the proposal into action.

More about the Russian-Ukrainian war, on Wednesday, the 4th, The Polish government said they prepared an immediate aid package for the injured victims of Russia’s airstrikes on Ukraine — recently, there were attacks in central Ukraine, which killed almost fifty people. On that day, Russia bombed Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, with missiles and killed seven people while also damaging several historical structures that were under the protection of UNESCO World Heritage. The Polish government also said they keep in contact with their Ukrainian counterparts to rebuild damaged historic structures in Lviv. Moreover, they will also send parts for power plants destroyed by the Russian airstrike in the Ukrainian Kharkiv city.

In the meantime, the police reported the success of a recent operation. On Friday, the 30th of August, the Polish police dismantled the largest drug lab discovered so far within the European Union. They conducted the operation along with Ukrainian security forces because they identified that some of the branches of the lab were located in Ukraine. The authorities from both countries raided a total of thirty-eight locations and captured 500 pounds of methadone and 400 pounds of Alpha-PVP. The police said that the 500 pounds of crystalline methadone seized represent a lethal dose for nearly four million people.

Last month, the Nigerian police detained six Polish students from the University of Warsaw who went to Nigeria for an exchange program. Nigeria said they were detained because they participated in anti-government protests in the country and waived Russian flags. Poland’s foreign ministry tried to convince Nigeria to release the Polish students, saying that they just found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. On Monday, the 2nd, Nigerian authorities decided to release students, and they returned to Poland.

Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have been protesting since the 1st of August against the government’s painful economic reforms like currency devaluation, and a partial end to fuel and electricity subsidies. After this incident, the University of Warsaw said they would review the procedures for trips to non-European countries and agreements related to similar international programs with African countries.

And to close this edition, on Friday the 30th of August, Bartosz Frankowski and Tomasz Musiał, two famous Polish football referees, stole a traffic sign in Lublin when they were drunk. The Polish Football Association's Disciplinary Committee suspended them for a year for breaching public order and sports regulations. They were going to oversee matches in the upcoming UEFA Champions League.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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