Transnational Dimensions of Catholic Anti-abortion Activism in the 1980s and early 1990s Poland

• In Event: Re-thinking Polish Catholic Approaches to Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction: Local and Transnational Perspectives, Past and Present

Abstract

At the turn of the 1990s the Polish anti-abortion movement adopted an organizational form and began to exert significant political influence, largely through its connection to the Catholic Church, which had opposed abortion legislation since its enactment in the 1950s. One reason for the movement’s success lay in its transnational liaisons, initiated in the 1980s during state socialism, and strengthened at the beginning of the ensuing decade of political transition. In my paper, I explore the transnational dimensions of Catholic anti-abortion activism in 1980s and early 1990s Poland, the influences and appropriations from the West, particularly America, and examine the impact of predominantly Protestant activist groups on a movement dominated by Catholic laity and clergy.

Author

• Sylwia Kuzma-Markowska, U of Warsaw (Poland)