By Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl
25-08-2023 (updated: 25-08-2023 )
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
KO, which initially had 30-year-old Shostak featured on its list of candidates for October’s parliamentary elections, decided to remove her after her recent statement on abortion, as confirmed by PO MP Borys Budka. [EPA-EFE/Darek Delmanowicz]
Languages: Deutsch
Poland’s main opposition group, centrist Civic Coalition (KO), has removed Yana Shostak, a human rights activist from Belarus, from its electoral list ahead of October’s parliamentary elections, citing her too-liberal views on abortion rights.
Shostak, who became popular in Poland in the wake of the anti-Lukashenko protests in Belarus in 2020, has spoken out in favour of women’s right to abortion up to the end of pregnancy and described herself as a ‘modern-day suffragette’.
“I know how difficult it is to be a woman in Poland. My personal experience includes having to have an abortion. I had to because I wanted to,” she said in a recent interview by Onet, adding that every woman should be able to terminate pregnancy until the last month, not until the 12th week, as proposed by the left and liberals in Poland.
However, this goes too far, according to the centre-liberal Civic Coalition (KO), whose founder and main member party is the centre-right Civic Platform (PO), a European People’s Party member.
KO, which initially had 30-year-old Shostak featured on its list of candidates for October’s parliamentary elections, decided to remove her after her recent statement on abortion, as confirmed by PO MP Borys Budka.
But Shostak’s views are not backed by the PO or the entire KO bloc, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska (PO), the Deputy Speaker of parliament’s lower chamber known as the Sjem said in an interview with Catholic-leaning Radio Plus on Thursday.
Kidawa-Błońska promised that women’s rights are still on the bloc’s radar, adding that KO’s electoral programme contains “a package for women”.
But “this is a very serious issue, and words spoken are of great significance,” she added.
Born in 1993 in Grodno, Belarus, Shostak emigrated to Poland in 2010, where she graduated top of her class. Recently, she got involved in activism, particularly on the issues of abortion and paedophilia in the Catholic Church.
Poland has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. Following a Constitutional Tribunal ruling in 2020, abortion is only possible if pregnancy results from rape and the woman’s life is at risk.
With national elections scheduled for 15 October, recent polls suggest that the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), has the best chance of winning a third consecutive term in office, currently polling at 33.8%.
The Civic Coalition (KO), PiS’ main rival bloc, currently comes in second with 28.5%.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Languages: Deutsch