Abortion Drug Testing Is the Latest Weapon in the War Against Reproductive Freedom

I remember my first time watching The Handmaid’s Tale. I have to admit, I didn’t read the book but I was eager for the series. I kept watching, and with each new episode I kept thinking, “Wow, this is unreal.” But given the dire state of women’s rights across the globe, it’s not that unreal, is it? Again and again, we are confronted by a relentless hatred for women and a chilling movement to control them.

In Poland, scientists have reportedly created tests that can detect whether people have taken a form of abortion pills. These tests are focused on two specific drugs, mifepristone, and misoprostol, which are both typically used in medicated abortions. The Polish government funded this research as part of its efforts to end legal abortion. According to the New York Times, Polish authorities are already starting to use these kinds of tests to investigate women’s pregnancies and miscarriages.

The effort to control women here is so disgusting. We have always known that regulating pregnancies and births is mostly about control as opposed to “protecting life.” Because clearly, the lives of women (beyond bearing children) are not that important. The Polish government has already prosecuted an activist who gave abortion pills to a woman who was in an abusive relationship. Wildly abhorrent, if you ask me. Though the woman in question didn’t end up taking the pills, the activist who gave them to her, Justyna Wydrzyńska, was convicted of illegally aiding an abortion. They were sentenced to eight months of community service. This was the first conviction of this kind in Europe, which could set a horrible precedent.

There are other examples of Poland’s obsession with regulating pregnancy and bodies. In June 2022, the country created a national pregnancy registry. Sound familiar? Conservatives in America have openly discussed and proposed tracking pregnancies and menstrual cycles. Poland’s latest moves offer a disturbing new precedent. In another case, Polish police searched the sewers looking for a fetus so they could prove a woman lied about having a miscarriage. They collected more samples, including blood from her floor, for their investigation. They ended up declaring that she lost her pregnancy due to “criminal actions.” Charges were filed, then dropped months later. Look at how much they were willing to go through to track a woman’s pregnancy. 

This is not far-fetched anymore. The United States has been under tyrannical conservative control, mostly thanks to our Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Many in the U.S. are already trying to ban people from helping others get an abortion. If these right-wing extremists had their way, we would see more people treated like Wydrzyńska. While the proposed penalties for aiding and abetting are civil (for now), this is an ominous foreshadowing of our future. Earlier this year, the Biden administration wanted to change medical privacy laws so that doctors and nurses couldn’t report suspected abortions to the authorities. However, 19 Republican attorneys general want to stop this change so that they can continue going after pregnant people. And with “abortion trafficking” gaining steam, it’s clear that no amount of invasive overreach is off-limits. Hopefully, Poland won’t have too much of an influence over what laws we see here, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. 

(via New York Times, featured image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)