The Breath of the Government on My Back’: Attacks on Women’s Rights in Poland

The campaign calls for The European Union (EU) and its member states to hold Poland to account for failing to implement EU policy on equality, women’s rights, and violence against women, including the Victims’ Rights Directive. Attacks by the Polish Government put Women and Women's Services at risk. The Women’s Rights Center in Łódź, which provides support for women survivors of violence, was raided by police immediately following a women’s rights protest in October 2017 and faced withdrawal of significant government funding. More than two years after the first mass protests against efforts to further restrict abortion access, the ruling Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) party is attacking women’s rights activism through raids on groups’ offices, denial of funding, public smear campaigns, and disciplinary action. The 75-page report, “‘The Breath of the Government on My Back’: Attacks on Women’s Rights in Poland,” documents how, since coming to power in 2015, the Law and Justice government has targeted women’s rights groups through raids and defunding, often with little warning and no clear rationale.