Criminalization, Medicalization, and Stigmatization: Genealogies of Abortion Activism in Poland

Abstract

This article explores the long history of Polish abortion activism from the late 1950s to the present day. Using feminist genealogy, we examine how (de)criminalization, (de)medicalization, and (de)stigmatization are addressed in the strategic narratives of three interconnected organizations: the Polish Planned Parenthood Association (PPPA), established in 1957; the Federation for Women and Family Planning (FWFP), established in 1991; and the Abortion Dream Team (ADT), established in 2016. The PPPA, active during the state-socialist period and supported by the state, applauded the legalization and medicalization of abortion while actively discouraging women from terminating pregnancies. The FWFP, which introduced the notion of abortion as a right during the democratic transition and continues to fight for access to legal abortion under current restrictions, leaves the medicalization of abortion largely unchallenged. The ADT encourages women to become their own abortion providers, to share their experiences, and to support other women. Focusing on the underlying spheres of social norms, practices, and networks, they actively work to remove the connotations of danger, sin, irresponsibility, and crime from abortion, fostering a concept of termination as the positive solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy. Our analysis of the intersecting space between (de)criminalization, (de)medicalization, and (de)stigmatization challenges the idea of progress and modernity in abortion activism and brings to the fore the contextual implications of positioning, goals, and rhetoric.