In Poland, Ukrainian refugee victims of rape come up against anti-abortion law

Marion Gauthier 6:20 a.m., April 27, 2022

In Poland, the law prevents Ukrainian refugees from having abortions despite the fact that many of them have been raped by Russian soldiers.

The Polish law on abortion is particularly restrictive: abortion is only authorized in cases of incest, rape or danger of death for the mother.

"They are alone and nervous"

The number of calls for help is increasing every week.

Nastya Podorozhnya has created a help line on Telegram to inform and support in particular those who cross the border pregnant and wish to have an abortion.

"They are alone, in a place they have just arrived, sometimes it's just a shelter. They are all nervous. Recently a woman messaged me, she was in a bathroom, she was bleeding, she just wanted to be with someone, we talked about the weather … For me, all that is to continue to traumatize them”, she testifies on Europe 1.

"It's already complicated for the Poles, for the refugees it's even worse"

Some were raped by Russian soldiers.

If abortion is authorized in this case in Poland, it is only in theory.

Because the procedure discourages the victims, underlines Mara Clarke.

She is a member of Abortion Without Borders. 

"You have to prove you were raped, make a report credible enough for the police to believe you. It's already complicated for Polish women but for refugees it's even worse. They are shocked because in the Ukraine that they left, abortion is legal", she explains at the microphone of Europe 1. 

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Those who help, risk prison.

They secretly organize the continuation of the exodus to a country that allows abortion or send abortion pills by post.