Criminalization, medicalization, and stigmatization. Genealogies of abortion activism in Poland Chełstowska, Agata Ignaciuk Klemba, Agata Abortion Poland Communism The research behind this article was conducted in two projects: “Birth control cultures in Poland 1945–1989” (National Science Center, Poland, grant no. 2016/21/P/HS3/04080, and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 665778, principal investigator Agata Ignaciuk, 2017–19) and “CrimScapes: Navigating Citizenship through European Landscapes of Criminalization,” funded by New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe (NORFACE), Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age (Governance) Joint Research Program, project no. 462-19-020. This article explores the long history of Polish abortion activism from the late 1950s to the present day. Using feminist genealogy, we examine how (de)criminalization, (de)medicalization, and (de)stigmatization are addressed in the strategic narratives of three interconnected organizations: the Polish Planned Parenthood Association (PPPA), established in 1957; the Federation for Women and Family Planning (FWFP), established in 1991; and the Abortion Dream Team (ADT), established in 2016. The PPPA, active during the state-socialist period and supported by the state, applauded the legalization and medicalization of abortion while actively discouraging women from terminating pregnancies. The FWFP, which introduced the notion of abortion as a right during the democratic transition and continues to fight for access to legal abortion under current restrictions, leaves the medicalization of abortion largely unchallenged. The ADT encourages women to become their own abortion providers, to share their experiences, and to support other women. Focusing on the underlying spheres of social norms, practices, and networks, they actively work to remove the connotations of danger, sin, irresponsibility, and crime from abortion, fostering a concept of termination as the positive solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy. Our analysis of the intersecting space between (de)criminalization, (de)medicalization, and (de)stigmatization challenges the idea of progress and modernity in abortion activism and brings to the fore the contextual implications of positioning, goals, and rhetoric. 2026-01-12T12:04:58Z 2026-01-12T12:04:58Z 2023 journal article Publisher version: Chełstowska, A. and Ignaciuk, A. (2023). Criminalization, medicalization, and stigmatization: Genealogies of abortion activism in Poland. Journal of Women in Culture and Society 48, no. 2 (2023): 249–269. https://doi.org/10.1086/722897 0097-9740 1545-6943 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109558 10.1086/722897 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional The University of Chicago Press