POLAND

POLAND | Abortion: facts vs myths from the Women's Strike series IN MY STYLE | Magda Mołek

Translated from Polish

Interviewer: Good morning, Anna. 

Anna: Good morning.

Interviewer: Thank you for finding time in your busy schedule time to talk to us. I have many questions and I would like it to be a conversation based on facts, i.e. on your experiences from your work at the abortion clinic in Vienna.

Anna: I would be very happy to share my knowledge if

it can be useful.

Interviewer: To take every precaution, so that you are not exposed to the disreputable behavior of those who, according to their own conscience and their own views, would intend to possibly administer justice here, we take care to hide your data and your image, hence this conversation will be look just like this. But thank you for wanting to share experiences. You've been working at the clinic in Vienna since when?

Anna: In 2007, you could say, I guided my first patient through abortion procedures, and in March of this year I was hired as... in Polish, the word sounds a bit strange, in German it's “Beraterin”, in Polish it's advisor, but I associate advisor with a bank. It's just someone who is, I don't know, someone like a life coach. I'm not a psychologist by training, so it's hard to call it that. This is someone who simply accompanies the woman through the whole process.

Interviewer: Well, precisely, your occupation is not that you perform medical procedures, but you are just such a person thanks to your knowledge of both languages, German and Polish, who guides patients through all the

necessary procedures for this medical procedure?

Anna: Yes, yes, for us at the clinic the most important thing is that the patient exactly understands what the doctor is saying to her. The doctor must understand exactly, what the patient is saying to them, and this communication is the first and probably the most important point of all.

That is why we do not accept patients who speak very little in English or German, because there is a suspicion, that they may not understand, as it were, all the information that the doctor is giving them and vice versa, which is why we also cooperate with various translators of other languages.

Interviewer: I understand that the decision made by the clinic,

to hire a Polish-speaking interpreter must have resulted from

for some specific reason. What was that reason?

Anna: Well, the reason was, that there were simply a lot of these patients from Poland, and they very often either speak poorly in foreign languages, or even if they speak English, they would want to have someone with them who would translate 100%. In such a stressful situation, they were afraid that they would not understand half of it, despite the fact that they speak excellent English. There were some ladies who really spoke perfect English, but still wanted me to be with them. I think it's also about the fact that many women want another woman to be with them who doesn't judge them, and for whom it doesn't seem to matter for why they are here. 

The most important thing is just for the woman to be reconciled with her decision, that it is clear to her, that she has made this decision. I think that sometimes the other woman is just simply needed.

Interviewer: What is the percentage of patients from Poland in the clinic where you work, because it is a clinic open to all Austrian women, for all other female citizens of Europe, and the world who want to come and have an abortion.

Anna: I don't know how many of these Polish women, maybe 20%? It's hard to say, because now let me remind you, these percentages have changed. Maybe I will talk about what it was like before the pandemic and before these bans. I think that around 15-20% maybe. We have groups where there are simply a lot of them. For example, we also have a Hungarian translator employed. Hungarian women also come a lot, there are even a little bit more than Polish women, but they are also closer.