1 February represents the first day of Spring to many, and is also the feast day of St Brigid of Kildare – Ireland’s only female patron saint and known as Ireland’s first abortionist. But who was St Brigid of Kildare? St Brigid of Kildare is one of three national saints of Ireland. She is the…

The Polish Patients Ombudsman has found that there were multiple violations of rights in case of Joanna from Krakow, who was harassed by police after taking abortion pills last year. The case made international news last year after Joanna went public with her experience at the hands of police. Joanna took abortion pills – not…

You go to the hospital with stomach pains, and the doctor tells you that you are 20 weeks pregnant. Months ago, you were assaulted – and you’ve had what you think are regular periods all this time. Abortion is not available in your country, your passport has expired, and you can barely afford a place…

In October 2020, Poland’s “Constitutional Tribunal” ruled to change parts of its abortion law to stop providing abortions in cases of severe or fatal foetal anomalies, which amounts to an effective ban on abortion. What does access to legal abortion look like in Poland after the pseudo-court ruling? There is no safe abortion in Polish…

Since 1 January 2022, UK charity Abortion Support Network has been contacted by 1,610 people in 48 different countries, including every EU country except four (Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, and Slovenia). In the 18 months since January 2022, ASN provided £345,544 in financial support for those who cannot afford the costs of an abortion or to…

Abortion Without Borders, the largest provider of abortions in Poland, expands to include three new organisations. In December 2019, six organisations announced that they were launching an initiative aimed at helping people in Poland get abortions, Abortion Without Borders (AWB). Three and a half years later, AWB has helped more than 100,000 people in abortions…

Activists have spoken out after a woman’s traumatic experience with police in Poland, reported by the press on 18th July. Joanna took abortion pills at home – which is legal in Poland – and called her doctor after she started to feel unwell. Her doctor reported her to the police as a possible suicide attempt.…

Written by Julia Pata, Volunteer and Admin Assistant at ASN. This past week in Poland has seen an increase in reported cases of hospitalised pregnant patients who have been denied an abortion despite life-threatening symptoms. Just last week Federa reported helping four women in this situation. This follows the tragic – and preventable – death…

Content note: pregnancy complications and medical neglect  Today Abortion Dream Team reported that another woman in Poland (this time in Łódź) was denied a life-saving abortion for several days, despite the law not forcing them to do so. The woman was in hospital from Saturday (3 June), her water broke on Monday and she was…