The limits of compromise: the range of perspectives on women's reproductive rights in Poland

Abstract

Objectives: A discourse analysis was carried out to identify how women's reproductive rights and needs are reflected in pro-life and pro-choice public debate in Poland.

Methods: The research procedure was based on the need to answer the question: how do pro-life and pro-choice discourses define women's reproductive rights in Poland (including the right to abortion)? Discourse analysis was applied to answer this question. The analysis covered materials published in rightist-conservative and leftist-feminist social-political portals and in popular media during the period 2009–2014, when the so-called ‘abortion compromise’ was in force, and the period 2016–2017, when a proposal for an absolute ban on abortion caused women to protest throughout Poland.

Results: Our research showed that construction of the analysed discourses is of a processual nature. Owing to social changes, both discourses have become strongly radicalised. The rightist-conservative discourse is emotional and criticising, restricting women's rights to the benefit of the rights of the fetus. The leftist-feminist view is oriented towards emphasising freedom of choice and observing women's rights.

Conclusion: The pro-life movement’s discourse may be defined as promoting the restriction of women’s reproductive rights, while leftist-feminist discourse may be seen as promoting women’s reproductive rights.

摘要

目的：通过言论分析确定波兰女性的生殖权利与需求如何体现在支持生命和支持选择的公共辩论中。

方法：研究程序是基于回答问题的基础上：如何通过支持生命和支持选择的言论界定波兰女性的生殖权利（包括流产的权利）？应用言论分析法回答此问题。该分析涵盖2009-2014年期间（当所谓的“流产妥协”生效时）与2016 - 2017年期间（这期间绝对禁止流产的提案引起了整个波兰女性的抗议）发表在右派保守派和左派女权主义的社会政治网站和大众媒体的所有材料。

结果：我们的研究表明, 言论分析的构建具有过程性质。由于社会的变化, 这两种言论都变得非常激进。右派保守主义言论是情感和批判性质, 限制了女性的权利, 保护了胎儿的权利。左派-女权主义观点旨在强调女性有选择自由和被尊重的权利。

结论：支持生命的言论可以被定义支持限制女性生殖权利的观点, 而左派-女权主义言论可以被视为支持女性生殖权利的观点。

Keywords:

• Discourse analysis
• pro-choice discourse
• pro-life discourse
• reproductive rights in Poland
• women's rights

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability

www.fronda.pl is a radically conservative and Catholic portal. It mainly publishes current information presented from a conservative point of view. Journalistic blogs are a significant part of the portal.

www.feminoteka.pl is a feminist portal. It publishes mainly information from a feminist and feminine point of view. Journalistic blogs are also a significant part of the portal. It is owned by a feminist organisation of the same name.

The articles analyzed were published in portals of such high-volume magazines as Newsweek, Gazeta Wyborcza, Fakt and Rzeczpospolita, as well as television and radio stations such as TVN24 and RMF FM. The analyses included also articles published in the information portals www.onet.pl, interia.pl and wp.pl.