Why Women Became the Enemy of Democracy in Poland? The Illiberal Regime’s Response to the Women’ Rights Movement

Abstract

After the political transformation in Poland, abortion was first regulated by the Law of 7 January 1993, Protection of the Human Fetus and Conditions Permitting Pregnancy Termination. Since then, attempts have been made to change the existing regulation. However, it was in 2016 that there were nationwide protests against changes to abortion provisions, and then in 2020, when the constitutional court ruling limited the possibility of termination of pregnancy in Poland. These protests can be seen in the context of the process of neo-militant democracy rule implementation, that is, the taking over the characteristics of non-democratic regimes by existing democracies under the cover of the regime self-preservation. The aim of this article is to identify and explain the government’s attitude towards women as an enemy of democracy at the institutional level during the two waves of protests. The study shows that during the period considered, restrictions specific to neo-militant democracies in the area of assembly and association, speech and press and restrictions on religious freedom were imposed in order to limit the activity of protesters viewed as enemies of the democratic system.