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“You owe us €11.5m”: Abortion activists deliver invoice to Polish government

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  • Activists from Abortion Without Borders presented an invoice to the government for the amount spent helping people in Poland have abortions
  • Abortion Without Borders has spent more than €11.5m (PLN 49,104,011) in time and money to provide abortion access for Polish residents, without help from the government
  • The presentation takes place at 10am, Thursday 11 April, ahead of parliamentary debates on four bills on abortion

Activists from Abortion Without Borders brought the ‘Polish abortion debt’ to the Sejm (Polish parliament) on Thursday (11 April), presenting an invoice to the government for the costs of time and financial assistance to provide abortion access for Polish residents.

While the Polish government does not provide abortion services, abortions are happening every day in Poland – with the costs being borne by the Abortion Without Borders Network, and other countries such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Abortion Without Borders initiative began in 2019, but the nine groups in the network began working between 2006 and 2020. Abortion Without Borders calculated all the time and money (financial support) it has spent to provide abortion access for people residing in Poland in this time.

As of 10 April, this amounts to:

  • €5,684,958 (PLN 24,233,591) on abortion with pills
  • €5,834,352 (PLN 24,870,420) on abortions in clinics and hospitals

Since Abortion Without Borders launched in 2019, it has helped around 150,000 Polish women to access abortion. Every day roughly 120 people self-manage their own abortion with pills, and 7 travel to a clinic or hospital in another country.

Natalia Broniarczyk, Abortion Dream Team and Abortion Without Borders, said:
“We help with abortions. We do it because it is just and necessary. We believe that every person who needs an abortion should have access to abortion without having to go into debt, without being ashamed and without apologizing. But abortion costs money, and lots of it. Polish politicians are saving money at the cost of our health while they sit having academic debates about where life begins and if an embryo is a human being, almost all responsibility for ensuring abortion rests on activists and funds from private donors. We want to make it clear: we demand the decriminalization of abortion and an honest debate about abortion. Enough of academic debates, moral posturing and false rhetoric. We do not need politicians to protect us from abortion. We need systemic solutions, and that includes money.”

Kinga Jelińska, Women Help Women and Abortion Without Borders, said:
“For more than 30 years, abortions have been happening in Poland only because people find a way to have them. As a Polish woman living in the Netherlands, I have been helping my compatriots with abortions since 2006, and I know most abortions happen outside the official healthcare system. Thanks to abortion pills, which both save and inexpensive, the cost of abortion has fortunately decreased, but even so roughly 35% of people in Poland who contact the Women Help Women Foundation cannot afford a suggested donation of €75. We of course reduce or waive the donation in these cases, because we know that abortion pills are the only chance for a safe abortion in Poland. Unlike Polish politicians and doctors we do not look the other way. And although the law punishes us for our work we want to emphasize that we will not stop helping people who ask for our help in having abortions. A restrictive law does not make need disappear, and when a law is unjust, it is fair to break it.”

Justyna Wydrzyńska, Kobiety w Sieci (Women on the Net), Abortion Dream Team and Abortion Without Borders, said:
“Only 0.3% of abortions in Poland are performed in public hospitals. The remaining 99.7% are taken care of by activist groups and organizations, private donors, other states. Politicians disregard the rights and lives of Polish women and also Ukrainian women. For more than thirty years, the responsibility for abortion access has been carried on the shoulders of grassroots groups and organizations. And that costs money. It’s time for the state to share at least some of this responsibility. Currently the state has washed its hand completely – it does not provide access to abortions, it shifts responsibility to other countries and private donors and at the same time punishes the activists who help women get abortions. I have been helping people get abortions for 17 years. A year ago I was convicted for this but I am not ashamed. It is the Polish state that should be ashamed for its continued failure to provide access to abortion.”

Mara Clarke, Supporting Abortions for Everyone (SAFE) and Abortion Without Borders said: “Nearly 47,000 Polish women benefit year after year from the Abortion Without Borders network – we are giving the help that the state should but does not provide. Abortion Without Borders helps 130 Polish people get abortions each day. Every day, roughly 123 self-manage their own abortions with pills and roughly 7 people travel to a clinic or hospital in another country. Most people need financial support to cover the cost of abortion, especially those in clinics and hospitals in other countries. Abortion costs money and the debate around abortion should include the actual costs. This reality is far more important than faux-ethical disputes.”