Russian invasion in Ukraine | Abortion during the war

Seventy-five thousand. This is the number of women who have legal abortions each year in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, what do women who want to terminate their pregnancies do? Where are they going?

Alice Girard-Bosse
The Press

Most of the 5.5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine in recent months have retreated to countries where access to abortion is almost completely banned, such as Poland, or severely restricted, such as Hungary and In Romania.

Indeed, Poland has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. The intervention is legal only when the health or life of the pregnant woman is in danger, or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Ukrainian women, who have found refuge in this neighboring country and wish to terminate their pregnancy, must therefore frequently turn to an international abortion aid organization.

Between 1^er March and April 19, the international organization Abortion Without Borders received 267 calls from people from Ukraine seeking help with abortions, The Press Mara Clarke, founder and director of the UK Abortion Support Network. Her organization helps people who want to have an abortion in a dozen countries, including Poland, Ireland, Romania, Hungary, France, Spain, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

A risky aid

As soon as refugees started to cross the border into Poland, international abortion aid organizations mobilized. They prepared medical abortion pills, a safe way to terminate pregnancy for up to 12 weeks, and attached instructions in Ukrainian and Russian on how to take them correctly.

But how to send the pills to refugees fleeing the conflict if they do not have an address? This is one of the challenges faced by the organizations, since any person or doctor who helps pregnant women to have illegal abortions in Poland risks up to three years in prison.

“If I host a refugee and let her use my address to order pills, am I criminally responsible? If I drive her to a clinic? If I give her money for the bus to an abortion clinic? “says M.^me Clarke. All of her questions remain unanswered and are of concern to abortion aid organizations.

Thanks to the work of responders and their partners in Poland, most of the 267 Ukrainian women were able to abort safely with abortion pills.

“Other women, whose pregnancies are more advanced, have been referred to abortion clinics in the Netherlands and England,” said the international organization Women Help Women (WHW), dedicated to making abortion accessible.

The women who remained in Ukraine are not left out, however, assures the WHW organization. “We are doing our best to help all Ukrainian women with unwanted pregnancies to leave Ukraine and we are working with feminist organizations in Ukraine to provide access to emergency contraception and safe abortion pills to those who are still in the country,” he said by email to The Press.

The complex case of rape

The challenge is just as great for Ukrainian women who have become pregnant after being raped by Russian soldiers. “We are sure that there is a small percentage of women fleeing Ukraine who are pregnant as a result of rape, either by Russian soldiers, or by violent partners, or by other men who are there. on the lookout for vulnerable refugees,” says Ms.^me Clarke.

However, the number of victims remains difficult to quantify.

Although abortion is legal in Poland in cases of rape, it is very difficult to obtain one. “The process is incredibly traumatic and includes obtaining a certificate from a prosecutor to prove that a rape has taken place. This procedure is incredibly difficult for people residing in Poland, and even more so for refugees,” says the founder of the Abortion Support Network.

Organizations will be busy over the next few weeks. Stakeholders fear that the number of people needing later abortions will increase. “We expect the numbers to skyrocket as more people cross borders, settle down and discover pregnancies,” Ms.^me Clarke.