Published: 15.03.2023
· The District Court of Warsaw-Praga found Justyna Wydrzyńska guilty of providing abortion pills to a woman who intended to have an abortion and sentenced her to 8 months of restriction of liberty through community service.
· An activist of the Abortion Dream Team was accused of aiding in a medical abortion and of storing pharmaceuticals with the intention of placing them on the market without authorisation.
· The court found Justyna Wydrzyńska guilty of an act under Art. 152 § 2 of the Penal Code.
· The Ordo Iuris Institute participated in the case, it joined the proceedings as a social organisation.
· During the last hearing, the Institute applied for imposing a suspended prison sentence and a fine on the activist.
The case was brought to law enforcement after a report from the husband of a woman to whom the activist gave abortifacients. The prosecutor's office accused Justyna Wydrzyńska of a crime under Art. 152 § 2 of the Penal Code. This provision concerns aiding abortion in violation of the provisions of the Act. The activist was also accused of storing pharmaceuticals with the intention of placing them on the market without authorisation. This is a crime under Art. 124 of the Pharmaceutical Law. Justyna Wydrzyńska has not pleaded guilty and explains that she was guided by compassion and emotions when providing the abortion pills.
The trial started in April 2022. With the consent of the court, Ordo Iuris participated in it as a social organisation, due to the need to protect an important social interest. In July, the Institute submitted an opinion to the court in which it indicated that there is no Polish or international legal standard that would require a state to accept abortion. Therefore, Poland may establish regulations penalising aiding and abetting abortion in violation of the provisions of the Act.
During one of the hearings, an attempt was made to exclude the Institute from these proceedings. Justyna Wydrzyńska's defenders and the witness requested this. The court, however, did bend to these requests.
During the last hearing, the Ordo Iuris Institute, in its final speech, presented the court with a view to imposing a joint penalty for both crimes of one year in prison with a three-year conditional probation with the supervision of the Police or a probation officer. The Institute applied for a fine of 350 daily rates of PLN 30 each. The prosecutor requested that the defendant's freedom be restricted. The defense sought an acquittal of the charges.
During the trial, recordings were broadcast in which Justyna Wydrzyńska admits that she has been helping with abortions for 16 years. She also states that she would do the same act for which she was tried again. Adv. Magdalena Majkowska representing Ordo Iuris emphasised that the defendant's attitude proves that she uses her trial to even greater promotion of her own activities focused on helping women in abortion. The representative of the Institute also pointed out that abortion circles supporting Justyna Wydrzyńska tried to intensify social emotions related to the case and thus put pressure on the court and the prosecutor's office. It was aimed at pushing through the political and ideological postulate regarding the alleged existence of a "right to abortion", which, according to abortion activists, should be respected in Poland. The lawyer emphasised that there is no “right to abortion” in Polish or international law, and it is not a human right.
Ultimately, the court found the activist guilty of aiding and abetting a medical abortion. Justyna Wydrzynska was sentenced to 8 months of restriction of liberty for performing community service 30 hours a month.
- The defendant, as well as the entire environment of abortion activists, have been promoting abortion, including pharmacological abortion, for years, mocking the well-known law in force in Poland. The lack of a firm reaction from the judiciary in such a situation would mean consent to the creation of a climate of disregard for the law in Poland, contrary to the constitutional standards protecting life. The judgment in the case of Justyna Wydrzyńska should therefore be regarded as an important step towards real respect for the right to life of unborn children in force in Poland - adv. Magdalena Majkowska from the Management Board of Ordo Iuris, emphasised.
The judgment is not definitive. The accused and her lawyers have the right to appeal to the appellate court.
· The Braniewo District Court ruled that there were no grounds for interfering with the parental authority of the parents of three children who had been taken from Norway by the children's agency, Barnevernet, two years earlier.
· After winning cases in Norwegian courts, the mother returned to Poland with her children in August 2022.
With the participation of our lawyers, there has been a recent conviction of the first person supplying chemical abortifacients in Poland. Following the blow, we are preparing a strike against the illegal abortion underworld. Justyna W.'s case proves that law enforcement agencies are far more likely to take action against abortion criminals when notices point them to specific individuals who have been supplied with dangerous abortifacients.
- The Ordo Iuris Institute constantly monitors the activities of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
- Lawyers intervene as a "friend of the court" in cases that are important in terms of the right to life from conception to natural death, protection of the family, religious freedom or freedom of expression.
· The Ordo Iuris Institute has made its fourth appeal to the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland to oppose international recognition of abortion as a human right.
· Ordo Iuris points out that UN resolutions moving in this direction could become a binding international law norm for states, obliging them to expand access to abortion.
© 2016 ORDO IURIS - Instytut Na Rzecz Kultury Prawnej
