According to a recent survey conducted by the Polish Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS), one in four Polish women have had an abortion. But the authors admit that the majority of the surveyed women had an abortion when it was still legal—before the introduction of the so-called Abortion Compromise in 1993.
Since abortion is illegal and the subject itself is such a taboo, it's impossible to get any clearer numbers than rough estimates about abortion in Poland. But what is it like when you're one of the people who actually makes up that number? I spoke to a woman who had an illegal abortion in a Polish clinic a few years ago. She agreed to tell me her story on the condition that we keep her identity anonymous. [...]
How did the people around you feel about your abortion?
When I came home after the procedure, my boyfriend didn't even turn from his computer—so I absolutely knew I had done the right thing. He left about a month later. He didn't support me financially in any way—I had borrowed the money for the abortion from a friend and had to pay her back over the subsequent months.
The only thing my mom said after I had told her everything was, "Why did you do this to me?" She is religious, but she might have also been worried she would have to pay for it. We never talked about it again. My friends were all very supportive, though.
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