Some background...
Abortion was legal in Poland until 1993, only 10 years ago. After the fall of the communist regime, the Catholic Church managed to push its aggressively anti-abortion, anti-contraceptives stance onto the mainstream political agenda. Every year since 1993 between 80.000 and 200.000 women seek illegal abortion services within Poland and many are forced to travel abroad to obtain abortions. Since 60% of the women in Poland live below the poverty line, many women can neither afford the option of travelling abroad nor are they in a position to pay the high fees of an illegal abortion.
