Feb Dispatch: rate of abortions in Polish hospitals is growing
Gender, abortion and reproductive rights news from Eastern Europe
Happy Thursday,
It is not all bad news! In fact, we have two positive (ish) stories coming from Poland, as well as worrying developments from Hungary, regarding the Budapest mayor charged for defying Pride ban in the summer, and some patriarch-induced derangement brought to us by Russia.
As this is the inaugural digest I rounded up news from the last month. Going forward I plan to send this digest once every two weeks.
If you have any news from your country that I missed or you have some updates from the ground you want to share, do give me a shout! I am all ears.
All the love,
Weronika
In numbers: Rate of abortions in Polish hospitals is growing
In 2024, 885 abortions were carried out in Polish hospitals, a sharp rise from the 425 procedures facilitated in 2023, reports Rzeczpospolita.
Prior to the 2020 ruling, foetal disability was cited as the reason in up to 98% of legal abortions taking place in Poland. When the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that terminating a pregnancy on this ground was unconstitutional, the official number of abortions fell from 1,076 in 2020 to only 107 a year later.
However, the new data suggests that increasing number of abortion seekers are able to access the procedure under the two remaining legal avenues: by proving that the pregnancy is a result of crime, eg. rape or incest, or that it puts their health or life at risk.
A driving factor in this development is likely the 2024 legal guidance issued to hospitals by the health minister at the time, Izabela Leszczyna. The document asserted that “risks to health” which allow doctors to legally perform an abortion include mental health and that an abortion can be performed if a qualified psychiatrist judges it to be necessary.
Nonetheless, most abortions in Poland continue to be facilitated by grassroots and international organisations, providing abortion medication via the post or supporting abortion-seekers in accessing the procedure abroad. These abortions are not included in official reports,
According to its annual report, Abortion Without Borders, a collective of several Polish and international organisations, facilitated 38,508 abortions for Polish residents in 2025 – most, it said, via medication sent in the post from abroad.
Facilitating an illegal abortion carriers a prison sentence of up to 3 years, according to the 1992 law which first criminalised abortion in the country. However, the penalty does not extended to the abortion seeker themself. This means that a person who orders and consumes abortion medication cannot be prosecuted under Polish law.
Budapest mayor charged for defying Pride ban
In less positive news, Gergely Karácsony, Budapest mayor from the green party Dialogue, is facing charges after organising a Pride March in the city in June last year.
A law prohibiting the “promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s” was passed by the Hungarian parliament in March 2025. Subsequently, Budapest police announced it would not allow the scheduled Pride celebrations in compliance with the law.
In response, Karácsony announced that the march would be organised as a city event, circumventing the ban. According to organisers 180,000-200,000 participated in the event.
Last week, Hungarian prosecutors said that Karácsony “organised and led a public gathering despite the police ban” and recommended an unspecified fine.
Check out the Guardian article for more.
The patriarchs launch anti-abortion crusade
Historically, Orthodox churches behind the Iron Curtain were not as fixated on abortion as their Catholic counterparts under the leadership of John Paul II. However, the Russian patriarchs appear determine to change that, seemingly walking in lockstep with a government preoccupied with falling birthrates.
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) kicked this year off with a nation-wide prayer service against abortion, the Moscow Times reported. Later that month, Patriarch Kiril of Moscow and All Rus, effectively the head of ROC, called for a legislation banning married women from accessing abortion without their husband’s permission. Meanwhile, bishop Pitirim Tvorogov from Skopin Diocese (Ryazan Oblast, just south-east of Moscow) claimed that the God has prolonged his country’s war in Ukraine as punishment for the growing number abortions and “witches” in Russia.
Gendered language to be removed from Polish marriage certificates
In January, the Ministry of Digital Affairs announced its plan to replace the words “man” and “woman” with the terms “first spouse” and “second spouse” on Polish marriage certificates.
The changes is to be be made via ministerial order, meaning that it will not be voted on by the parliament and cannot be vetoed by the president, and could come into effect as soon as later this year.
Digital affairs minister, Krzystof Gawkowski, said the change will accommodate the November ruling of the European Court of Justice, which obliges Poland to recognise all marriages between two EU citizens that had been “lawfully conducted” in other member states – including same sex marriages.
Currently, same sex couples in Poland do not have access to any legal recognition or protection of their relationship. Those who marry abroad are not legally recognised as married the country.
This change to marriage certificates would in effect give Polish couples an avenue to legal recognition. However, it is uncertain whether the solution offered by the Ministry of Digital Affairs will be accepted by everyone in the coalition government.