At the beginning of October, protestors in Poland, dressed in black, successfully prevented that nation’s government from turning already-restrictive abortion laws into a ban. Earlier this week, protestors took on the latest proposal from this strongly Catholic country: a restriction on abortion even in cases where the fetus would not survive, or is severely deformed. The idea is to allow the fetus to make its way into the world (that is, to compel the woman carrying that fetus to give birth) so that there would be time for the baby to be baptized and then buried.

Views on abortion differ, to state the abundantly obvious, and differ among good people, to state the somewhat more controversial. While I am pro-choice, I don’t think the opposing political view is entirely rooted in misogyny, and I certainly respect any woman taking her own personal or religious views into account when facing a challenging pregnancy. But there’s something particularly gruesome, I think, about forcing a woman to have a stillbirth. A woman whose own religious principals very well might not dictate that tremendous sacrifice.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Never mind what I think, though. The women of Poland have made their voices heard.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood. Her book, The Perils of “Privilege”, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount