Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Policing Abortion in Poland: The Role of Front-Line Law Enforcement Functionaries in Shaping Anti-Abortion Policy
Anna Malgorzata Malyszko
ABSTRACT:
Abortion criminalization results in the involvement of law enforcement institutions in reproductive health policy implementation. As such, it assumes policing certain aspects of otherwise health services, their providers, and their recipients by front-line functionaries (i.e., police officers, government agents, and prosecutors). Several high-profile cases reported recently in Poland show that front-line functionaries policing illegal abortion can impose restrictions and sanctions beyond those provided by the law due to their significant discretionary power. It may lead to discrimination and persecution of pregnant people and people capable of pregnancy. The questions of human and specifically reproductive rights, as well as law enforcement functionaries’ discretion and accountability, are vital to political sciences, particularly in the era of declining democracy, and are broadly discussed in academia. However, there is scarce research regarding the role of individual law enforcement functionaries and the impact of their discretionary decisions on the implementation and (re)shaping of reproductive policies. Based on two illustrative case studies, the proposed paper aims to showcase how the discretionary authority of front-line law enforcement functionaries can be used to the detriment of abortion policy recipients. Employing the theoretical framework combining the reproductive justice and street-level bureaucracy approaches, the article argues that front-line functionaries not only enforce but also reinforce anti-abortion policy in Poland, making it more restrictive than designed initially and potentially more resilient to change.
keywords: discretion; human rights; implementation; reproductive justice; street-level bureaucracy