Hundreds protest the Polish government’s ban on abortion

By Oisin Duncan

Last weekend Socialist Party Scotland and Young Socialists – Young Workers’ Rights Campaign attended multiple protests organised by Polish workers and young people in Glasgow, Dundee and Inverness.

These were the second waves of protest in Scotland since the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland ruled against women’s rights to abortion in cases of congenital deformity, the latest in a series of attacks on women by the reactionary, Catholic fundamentalist wing of the Polish ruling class represented in the PiS party. 

Effectively, as a result of this ruling, abortion is now illegal in Poland. Huge protests have taken place since the decision was taken in late October.

In Glasgow turnout was around 250-300 people, in Dundee and Inverness about 100 and 40 respectively, and despite poor weather conditions at each protest chanting, singing and multiple speakers helped to create a carnival-esque atmosphere. 

We took part in each demo with leaflets written in English and Polish (see picture below), raising demands on the whole labour movement to condemn this judicial attack on human rights and for the Polish working class to take decisive action with a 24-hour general strike to fight back against the PiS demagogues. 

We also raise broader points about how the basic rights to bodily autonomy would be provided for Polish women, demanding a fully-funded health system able to provide free, legal and safe abortions along with contraception, as well as affordable childcare and housing facilities to give women a meaningful choice over their reproductive futures. 

These points don’t just apply to Poland; more than a decade of austerity cuts, passed from Tories in Westminster through Labour and SNP councillors, have bled our public services dry. This has disproportionately affected working-class women, who cannot depend on women’s shelters for protection from domestic abuse, nor a decent benefits system to keep up with a rising cost of living. Finally, the devastation of the NHS has reduced its capacity to provide reproductive independence for women workers, underlining the pain felt by the entire working class. 

We stand for an anti-austerity, unapologetically socialist alternative for working people, upholding the rights of all oppressed peoples and fighting for a fundamental socialist transformation of society; this is why we support the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), who are holding a conference this Saturday to prepare a socialist challenge for the 2021 Scottish elections.