Abortion access: How context shapes strategy in Ireland and Poland

1.Introduction

Abortion access is a long standing social issue. Until the late twentieth century, with the influence of feminist and human rights movements, many countries gradually relaxed restrictions on abortion and included it within medical services. Even in countries where abortion is legal, there are still problems and limits in accessing services in practice. For this reason, CSO with professional knowledge and flexible resource mobilisation play an important role in providing information and services and in promoting abortion rights.

This paper mainly focuses on Abortion Rights Campaign and Abortion Dream Team, two CSO that aim to promote abortion access. They are from Ireland and Poland, and they face very different political environments and social and cultural contexts. This paper uses political opportunity structure theory to analyse how they choose different strategies under different political environments, social conditions, and religious backgrounds.

This paper will be divided into three main parts. The first part will define the scope of the shared policy issue and introduce the basic information and background. The second part will compare the legal and political environments in which the two CSOs operate, and examine their organisational characteristics and resource allocation strategies. The third part will use political opportunity structure theory to analyse how these factors shape their strategic choices and policy influence.

2.Abortion Access and Civil Society

Abortion access is an important concept in this paper, and there is no unified definition in the academic field. In WHO's World Health Organization (2022), abortion care is described as "Comprehensive abortion care includes the provision of information, abortion management (including induced abortion and care related to pregnancy loss), and post-abortion care". Clinical practice handbook for quality abortion care describes it as a medical practice that protects women's and adolescents' health and their human rights, and it stresses that abortion care needs to exist within an enabling environment (World Health Organization, 2023). In this paper abortion access is not only the legal permission for women to obtain abortion. It also refers to the ability of individuals to access scientific knowledge and service information about abortion, and to obtain safe abortion services in a timely, affordable, and non-discriminatory way when needed.

Current research on abortion access also sees it as a complex and multi dimensional issue. Doran and Nancarrow (2015) argue that even in developed countries, women still face difficulties in accessing abortion services, and they suggest improving service quality through better training of medical staff and more efficient medical processes. Fried (2013) stresses that even with legal protection of abortion rights, women still face social pressure, but this pressure can also lead to broader reproductive rights movements. Fernandez Anderson (2022) links abortion access with CSO and uses Argentina as an example to show the role of social movements and political structures in promoting abortion legalisation. These studies often focus on abortion access itself or use a single country as the research context, and they lack comparative research on the strategies of CSO across different national contexts. This paper aims to introduce political opportunity structure to address this gap.

3.Theoretical Framework

Political opportunity structure is an important theory for studying civil society. It focuses on the relationship between the emergence, development, and strategies of social movements and their political environment. Political opportunity structure theory argues that the strategies of organisations are not fully decided by themselves, but are shaped by limits and opportunities from the external political and social environment (Eisinger, 1973). This theory mainly pays attention to factors such as political openness, institutional procedures, and the social environment. Political opportunity structure is often used to study why social movements and civil society organisations take different strategies in different political and social contexts and what effects these strategies have. This theory stresses the external environment and is suitable for comparative research. For this reason, this paper uses Political opportunity structure to compare Abortion Rights Campaign and Abortion Dream Team, and to explain how they choose different strategies under different political environments, social conditions, and religious backgrounds.

4.National Contexts

4.1 Poland

The abortion environment in Poland is highly conservative and is considered one of the most restrictive legal systems on abortion in Europe. The "abortion compromise" established in 1993 allows abortion only in three cases: when the pregnant woman's life or health is at risk, when the pregnancy results from an illegal act, or when the fetus has a serious and irreversible defect. In 2020, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled that abortion on the grounds of severe fetal abnormality was unconstitutional, which further reduced the scope for legal abortion. In 2024, due to opposition from conservative parties, a bill aimed at stopping the criminal prosecution of those assisting abortion failed to pass (Politico, 2024). This shows that the legal environment in Poland remains strict and continues to tighten.

In terms of religion, the Catholic Church in Poland is deeply connected to national identity and still holds significant political influence, often blocking legal reforms (Calkin & Kaminska, 2020). This restrictive environment has also brought both international pressure and ongoing domestic protests. In 2025, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in A.R. v. Poland that Poland had violated the European Convention on Human Rights, and called on the government to introduce reforms as soon as possible (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2025). Domestically, Poland experienced two large-scale protests in 2016 and 2020. However, both failed due to weak social foundations and strong opposition forces (Rak & Skrzypek, 2024). This further highlights the difficulties of providing abortion support in Poland.

4.2 Ireland

In contrast to Poland, abortion law in Ireland has gone through a process from restriction to gradual liberalisation. In 1983, the Eighth Amendment was adopted. This amendment gave equal right to life to the pregnant woman and the fetus, which almost completely prohibited legal abortion. However, after years of domestic protest and pressure from United Nations human rights bodies, Ireland held a national referendum in 2018 and formally repealed the Eighth Amendment (Carnegie & Roth, 2019).

Although Ireland has allowed legal abortion within the first 12 weeks since 2018, Side (2020) argues that this reform has not removed inequality. Abortion remains under state control, and the doctor-centred system allows medical professionals to refuse to provide abortion services based on conscientious objection. This shows that even though legal restrictions have been relaxed, women still face multiple barriers in accessing abortion services, including legal, economic, and informational constraints.

In terms of religion, Ireland has entered a post-Catholic context. Religion has not disappeared, but due to economic and social change, immigration, and the exposure of Catholic Church scandals, its influence has declined and it no longer holds privileged power in policymaking (Ganiel, 2025). This has created more space for legal reform and social movements. Social movements related to abortion access in Ireland have three main features: they are grassroots, collective, and based on long-term struggle (Carnegie & Roth, 2019). By 2026, these movements remain active, with many participants continuing to come together in Dublin for the annual March for Life to advocate for their rights (March for Life, n.d.).

5.CSO Strategies

5.1 Abortion Dream Team

Abortion Dream Team is an informal initiative from Poland. Its main goal is to spread accurate information about abortion and provide real support for women. The organisation operates in a country with strict legal restrictions. Its main strategies are demedicalization and destigmatization and it does not prioritizing legal change (Chelstowska & Ignaciuk, 2023). Abortion Dream Team also avoids excessive commodification and continues to focus on practice-based activism(Szpyrko, 2024).

In terms of demedicalization, the organisation shares scientific knowledge and legal information about abortion online (Aborcyjny Dream Team, n.d.). It promotes medication abortion. It also provides practical guidance. For example, it explains what is needed for a safe abortion at home through social media. The goal of demedicalization is to help women become active decision makers. It reduces dependence on medical authority. It also helps women who face limits due to income or education. At the same time, the organisation works with international partners. It helps women receive abortion pills by mail or travel abroad for services (Aborcyjny Dream Team, n.d.).

In terms of destigmatization, the organisation supports abortion rights both online and offline. In 2025, Polish abortion rights activists opened a center across from the parliament building in Warsaw (Gera, 2025). This stationary abortion center provides abortion pills. It also serves as a public statement in support of abortion rights. It acts as a form of protest against current laws.

Although Abortion Dream Team supports legal change it mainly focuses on avoiding legal risk. It seeks to work around legal restrictions and provide direct practical support.

5.2 Abortion Rights Campaign

Abortion Rights Campaign is an Irish grassroots all-volunteer group dedicated to achieving free, safe and legal abortion care (Abortion Rights Campaign, n.d.). Its main strategy focuses on organising social movements and producing knowledge in order to promote destigmatization of abortion and support legal reform in Ireland.

Before the 2018 referendum that repealed the Eighth, Amendment Abortion Rights Campaign argued that women should have access to "free, safe, legal, local" abortion services. The March for Choice organised by ARC attracted tens of thousands of participants in 2017. This made it an important mobilisation actor in the referendum campaign (O'Shaughnessy, 2022). In its narrative, Abortion Rights Campaign highlights the medical necessity of abortion and the suffering experienced by women. This approach aims to reduce moral stigma and gain sympathy and support from the community (O'Shaughnessy, 2022).

In terms of knowledge production, Abortion Rights Campaign argues that embodied experience is also a form of knowledge. The organisation collects data through online and offline surveys. It focuses on the physical and emotional experiences of people who have had abortions. The findings are then compiled into reports and submitted to the Citizens' Assembly (O'Shaughnessy et al., 2025). This approach makes the real experiences of abortion visible. It challenges the authority of experts and allows these experiences to enter the policy process.

In summary, Abortion Rights Campaign also shares information about abortion through its website and helps women build mutual support networks. However, its main strategy remains the organisation of social movements and the production of knowledge. The goal is to promote legal reform in Ireland.

A comparison of the two CSOs shows clear differences in strategy. Abortion Dream Team tends to work around legal restrictions and provide direct practical support. Abortion Rights Campaign focuses more on organising social movements and pushing for legal change.

6.Comparative Analysis

6.1 Poland Case Analysis

The level of policy openness, religious background and social environment in Poland all shape the strategy adopted by Abortion Dream Team in its struggle for abortion access.

After the democratic transition in 1989 and the political developments that followed, the 1997 Constitution formally established the referendum system in Poland. According to the Constitution, national referendums can be held on major state issues the approval of international treaties and constitutional amendments. However, Marczewska-Rytko (2013) argues that although Poland introduced referendums at the institutional level the power to decide whether a referendum will actually take place still remains in the hands of the president and parliament. As a result, citizens have very limited ability to initiate referendums themselves. Within this legal context, Abortion Dream Team as a grassroots CSO has almost no effective channel to expand its influence through social movement mobilisation and then change the law through a referendum process.

As a parliamentary democracy, Poland also provides a possible pathway for civil society to influence legal change through political parties. Although the current ruling coalition is the 15 October Coalition, PiS remains one of the strongest conservative parties in the country. Since coming to power in 2015, PiS has further strengthened Catholic values and nationalism, which has increased the influence of conservative forces in Poland (Kulczycki, 2023). At the same time, PiS has placed pressure on organisations within civil society that do not support its values through methods such as public attacks and police investigations. In contrast, organisations that support PiS values have received political support and resources (Bill, 2022). Under these conditions Abortion Dream Team faces major obstacles in attempting to change the law through political parties. This is major reason why the organisation does not treat legal reform as its primary goal.

In terms of the religious context, Kulczycki (2023) argues that after democratisation in 1989 the Catholic Church regained major political influence and cooperated with conservative political forces to push for the removal of liberal abortion laws. In Poland, the Catholic Church not only holds strong political influence but also continuously shapes the social environment through discourse and media campaigns (Calkin & Kaminska, 2020). This creates additional difficulties for women seeking abortion services.

Within this religious background, it's very difficult for Abortion Dream Team to directly change dominant moral standards and public discourse through its own campaigns. As a result, the organisation focuses on spreading scientific knowledge and sharing information and experiences related to medication abortion in order to encourage and support women who need abortion services.

In terms of the social environment, negative attitudes toward abortion remain very strong in Poland (Koralewska & Zielinska, 2022). Koralewska and Zielinska (2022) argue that Polish anti-abortion discourse is not only about religion or morality. It also presents abortion as a shared threat to unborn children, women, Polish culture and the nation.

In the process of destigmatization, social movements do not create discourse in a vacuum. They must choose forms of framing that are most likely to be accepted within the existing social environment (Cullen & Korolczuk, 2019). Because Abortion Dream Team operates in a context where abortion is heavily stigmatised the organisation adopts relatively moderate forms of communication in order to gain broader understanding and sympathy. As a result, Abortion Dream Team emphasises that abortion restrictions can harm the health and lives of all reproductive-age women and shares specific cases of women suffering because of abortion restrictions.

6.2 Ireland Case Analysis

The strategy of Abortion Rights Campaign is closely shaped by the level of policy openness in Ireland as well as its religious background and social environment.

According to Articles 46 and 47 of the Irish Constitution, any constitutional amendment must be approved by a referendum. The government sets the referendum question. The process still involves civil society the media and experts. This creates an effective pattern of interaction in law making (Albert & Stacey, 2022).

The 2018 abortion referendum is a clear example. Abortion Rights Campaign and other CSOs organised social movements. They built local networks. They collected and presented personal experiences. These efforts helped drive legal change (Carnegie & Roth, 2019). Interaction between the government and civil society created a pathway for legal reform through social mobilisation. Previous success also gave the organisation experience and confidence. This explains why Abortion Rights Campaign focuses on legal reform and uses social movement mobilisation as its main strategy.

Current abortion law in Ireland still includes legal, medical, geopolitical and socio-economic restrictions,which means not all women can access abortion services on equal terms (Side, 2020). Abortion Rights Campaign therefore continues its work in knowledge production. It makes personal experiences visible and shows that problems of abortion access are not fully resolved in Ireland.

In terms of the religious context, Ganiel (2025) argues that Catholic identification dropped from 92% in 1991 to 69% in 2022, which shows that the influence and social status of the Catholic Church have declined, and religion has become one element within a more plural society. In this context of increasing value diversity, religion no longer holds dominant authority over moral issues, and CSOs have gained more space to promote the destigmatization of abortion. As a result, Abortion Rights Campaign can emphasise women's difficulties and suffering to gain sympathy from the community, and to help women who need abortion services receive understanding and support (O'Shaughnessy, 2022).

However, the influence of Catholicism in Ireland has not completely disappeared, and this still places limits on the narrative strategy of Abortion Rights Campaign. For example, in the "Yes" campaign, abortion was often framed as tragic and unavoidable, which turned it into a form of exceptional case, while more ordinary reasons, such as not wanting to be pregnant, were largely ignored (O'Shaughnessy, 2022).

In terms of the social environment, abortion was a major issue of public concern in Ireland. Before the 2018 referendum, the Citizens' Assembly received around 13,000 voluntarily submitted public submissions. Statistical analysis showed that Fetal Rights, Autonomy, Religion and Disability were the four issues that attracted the most public attention (de Londras & Markicevic, 2018). Strong public concern about abortion created the foundation and possibility for Abortion Rights Campaign to mobilise social movements.

Media attitudes can also reflect and shape the social environment to some extent. Prendergast (2023) argues that before the 2018 referendum, Irish media published large amounts of content that highlighted personal experiences and encouraged public sympathy. After the referendum, the media focused on the major social impact of the event and the transformation of public values. In this way, the media supported reform on the issue of abortion access in Ireland. Attention and support from both the media and society encouraged Abortion Rights Campaign to adopt a strategy based on social movement mobilisation.

7.Conclusion

This paper first outlines the national contexts of Ireland and Poland and introduces the main strategies of the two CSOs, Abortion Rights Campaign and Abortion Dream Team. It then uses political opportunity structure theory as the analytical framework to compare these two organisations.

The paper argues that the level of political openness, religious background and social environment in different countries strongly shape organisational strategy. In Ireland, a more open political system, the declining influence of the Catholic Church and a relatively tolerant social environment encourage Abortion Rights Campaign to focus on legal reform through social movement mobilisation. In Poland, strict abortion laws, the political and moral influence of the Catholic Church and the stigmatisation of abortion in conservative media push ADT to focus more on destigmatization, the spread of scientific knowledge and the provision of practical support.

Overall, the strategies of CSOs are not fully autonomous but are shaped by broader political and social environments.

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