The fourth hearing in the trial of Justyna Wydrzyńska, co-founder of the ‘Abortion Dream Team’ collective, took place in Warsaw on Wednesday 11 January. Prosecuted for providing abortion pills to a woman who was a victim of domestic violence in 2020, she now faces up to 3 years in prison.
“I would do it again”, she said at a press conference before the hearing. The judge has scheduled two additional hearings, on 6 February and 14 March.
In early January, Renew Europe female MEPs Karen Melchior (Danish), Róża Thun (Polish) and Katalin Cseh (Hungarian) sent a letter to Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Tadeusz Ziobro asking him to drop the charges. “[Justyna Wydrzyńska] facing charges could set a dangerous precedent”, they warned.
Malin Björk (The Left, Swedish) denounced a “medieval witch-hunt” and called on the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council to “take a firm stance against the Polish government for using its courts to undermine not only women’s rights but the rule of law as a whole”, in a statement issued by her political group.
Civil society organisations also once again warned about the de facto ban on abortion in Poland at a public hearing in the European Parliament in November 2022 (see EUROPE 13065/23). (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)