Poland is on fire. During a historic recession, amid the worst pandemic since World War I, the Constitutional Court decided that abortion is unconstitutional in cases of lethal fetal abnormalities. This decision unleashed a wave of furious women’s protests, without precedent in democratic Poland.

The Polish abortion regulation bill from 1993 stated that abortion was legal in three cases: when pregnancy is a result of rape, when the life of the mother is at risk, or in the case of lethal fetal abnormalities. In the last decade, an estimated 95–97 percent of legal abortions in Poland were carried out due to the latter condition, meaning that the recent verdict is an effective ban on abortion, with only the remaining 3 percent of cases remaining legal.

The Law and Justice party (PiS) is responsible for the current makeup of the Constitutional Court; part of the legal establishment believes that the Court has been politicized to the point that its decisions are not legally binding. The debate between the lawyers is one thing, but something much bigger is happening: women are organizing politically in the biggest mobilization in the country’s history.