Poland’s constitutional court previously ruled that the section of abortion legislation that enabled eugenic abortions of allegedly deformed fetuses was a violation of the right to life guaranteed by the constitution. It was not a ban on abortion, as those can still be performed in cases where the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother or if it has come about as a result of rape or incest.
Similarly in the U.S., the recent Supreme Court ruling did not make abortion illegal. It simply returned legislation on the matter to the states, which can now decide if abortion should be illegal through their own democratic mechanisms.
There are also similarities between the two countries related to the propaganda, or fake news, being used to distort the whole debate on abortion. A very good example of this is a tweet from BLM-supporting, left-wing activist Fara Kaufman.
There are several blatant lies here.
A photograph dating back to the autumn of last year was used to claim that protests are currently taking place involving millions of Polish women, who are refusing to go to work and carry out housework in protest of a total ban on abortion introduced by a newly-elected, extreme right-wing government.
There are no millions on the streets, not even thousands. There are no strikes over abortion. There is no total ban on abortion, and the government was elected back in 2015 and re-elected in 2019. In addition, the decision on abortion was not taken by the government but the constitutional court.
This fake news was not directed at Poland but was an attempt to whip up a frenzy in the United States. The problem is that such absurd fake news can spread like wildfire, with the post in question reaching tens of thousands, while any rebuttal can only hope to reach hundreds.
