by Artemis
Abortion Dream Team, CC BY 4.0
On March 8, International Women’s Day, the activist group Abortion Dream Team (ADT) opened what it calls Poland’s first ever abortion clinic in Warsaw. The clinic, Abotak (abortion, yes), provides a place for women to take the abortion pill mifepristone, ordered in advance. Patients can receive information, pregnancy tests, and the option to receive funding and arrangements for a surgical abortion abroad. It is funded by donations and sales of clothing with the slogan “Abortion is Life” and feminist art.
Abotak is located across the street from Parliament to “exert pressure on politicians.” Prime Minister Donald Tusk states he cannot keep his campaign promise to liberalize abortion laws due to opposition from Parliament and a conservative President. Providing abortion pills is still punishable with up to three years in prison. The ADT says, “Politicians cannot keep their word, so we will do it for them. We will not wait idly by. We want access to abortion in Poland to be available now.”
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Also on International Women’s Day, women across Argentina took part in the annual march for women’s rights. Thousands marched in the capital Buenos Aires. This year’s demonstration was especially urgent because new president Javier Milei shut down the departments of Women’s Affairs and Protection against Gender Violence. He reduced spending on programs funding abortion, preventing teenage pregnancy and supporting victims of violence. He plans to eliminate “femicide” from the penal code while in Argentina a woman is killed every 30 hours, 81% from domestic violence. Some marchers carried photos of murdered loved ones and others wore green for abortion rights. Demonstrator Alejandra Corvetto said, “It’s a scourge to see all public policies that took so many years to achieve are now gutted. So, I wasn’t comfortable staying home today. Today is not a festivity, it’s a fight.” Natalia Gonzales said, “Everything we’re doing today is so that those women who are not yet born can normalize gender equity.”
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On April 11, hundreds of women marched in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, demanding the government declare extreme, escalating levels of femicide and violence against women and children a national emergency. Organized by Women for Change, they presented a petition signed by 150,000. They were galvanized by the rape of a 7-year-old girl at her school in Matatiele in November, only investigated a month later. Marchers referred to her as “Cwecwe,” protecting her identity. Signs read “Justice for Cwecwe” and “My Body is Not a Crime Scene.” The previous week, women demonstrated in Matatiele, and thousands marched in Cape Town. On April 26, Operation Watershed, an organization of expatriate South Africans, held a parallel demonstration in London, England. According to Siphiwe George, founder of Women Waging War, declaring a national disaster will “open up a whole new level of how we can fight this scourge,” including funding shelters. On April 14, the government announced a “90-day Blitz to Crush Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.” This includes training for police and survivor-centered services.