"They've been chanting our phone number."
Abortion Without Borders is helping women in Poland receive abortion services amid a nationwide ban ... and the word is spreading.
Abortion Without Borders is helping women in Poland receive abortion services amid a nationwide ban ... and the word is spreading.
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00:00Fuck!
00:00Fuck the peace!
00:08COVID didn't stop us from helping people get abortions.
00:11And I got to tell you, this, you know, constitutional tribunal, that's not going to stop us either.
00:23Fuck the peace!
00:26We are here because I can't afford an abortion should never be the only reason that somebody
00:45becomes a parent.
00:46So we are here to help people who have decided that abortion is the best, the best decision
00:53for them.
00:54They live in a country where abortion is not possible for them and the only thing standing
00:58in their way is financial assistance and logistics.
01:00When we say abortion without borders, for us borders aren't just geographical, they're
01:09all the obstacles that stand between somebody who wants an abortion and the abortion that
01:13they want.
01:14So the thing about our abortion fund is we work with campaigning organizations and we
01:19can't wait for them to change laws.
01:22They're the cure, we're the band aid.
01:36So currently about 1000 abortions are done legally in Poland every year and 98% of them
01:45are for cases of severe fetal malformation and that is what this tribunal decided was
01:53no longer legal because they said it is against the constitution.
01:57This is a big thing because most people think that if a child is going to be severely disabled,
02:03possibly not even survive the experience of birth, that the humane thing is to allow a
02:09termination that the Polish government is saying, no, you need to go through labor and
02:13delivery.
02:23Making abortion against the law or criminalizing it does not stop or even reduce the number
02:29of abortions.
02:30In fact, countries with more restrictive abortion laws have higher numbers of abortion.
02:37It's just a matter of how those abortions are obtained.
02:41And years ago, a lot of those abortions were obtained in very dangerous methods.
02:59The amazing thing about the people out in the street is that they have been chanting
03:03in the protests, abortion without borders, they've also been chanting our phone number
03:08and people have taken it upon themselves to spray paint our phone number literally everywhere.
03:15The Polish helpline is blown up with calls from people, some people who are in the situation
03:22right now where they're pregnant and they need help and some people who are terrified
03:26about what might happen in the future.
03:38What's happening right now is basically a repeat of the Black Monday protests that were
03:42in 2016.
03:43And actually, they tried to do this exact thing in the middle of the pandemic, and people
03:49still came out, you know, they protested in their cars, they put signs up in their windows.
03:54I think the fact that they've actually gone and done it has really outraged people.
03:59What I would say to those conservative parties is look in the streets right now, those are
04:02the voters.
04:03My hope is that this is a turning point for abortion rights in Poland.
04:21The war on abortion rights and abortion access in the U.S. has been going on for a long time.
04:27The U.S. is a perfect example of a good law, but no access.
04:32Because states, they chip and chip and chip and chip with, you know, all these targeted
04:36laws against abortion providers, and doing things that make it really, really difficult.
04:40And basically, no place is it more true that women with money have options and women without
04:44money, have babies or, you know, go to Google and hopefully find safe, reliable abortion
04:52pills.
04:53And the new makeup of the Supreme Court is terrifying, not just for abortion rights,
05:00but for, I would say, all rights.
05:03But, you know, Abortion Support Network and Abortion Without Borders grew out of the abortion
05:09fund movement in the United States.
05:11There have been groups of people helping people get abortions since before Roe v. Wade.
05:18The resistance is ready.