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Malia Politzer is the executive editor of piqd.com, and an award-winning long-form journalist based out of Spain. She specializes in reporting on migration, international development, human rights issues and investigative reporting.
Originally from California, she's lived in China, Spain, Mexico and India, and reported from various countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Her primary beats relate to immigration, economics and international development. She has published articles in Huffington Post Highline, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue India, Mint, Far Eastern Economic Review, Foreign Policy, Reason Magazine, and the Phoenix New Times. She is also a regular contributor to Devex.
Her Huffington Post Highline series, "The 21st Century Gold Rush" won awards from the National Association of Magazine Editors, Overseas Press Club, and American Society of Newspaper Editors. She's also won multiple awards for feature writing in India and the United States.
Her reporting has been supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Institute For Current World Affairs, and the Global Migration Grant.
Degrees include a BA from Hampshire College and MS from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where was a Stabile Fellow at the Center for Investigative Journalism.
How Poland’s Far-Right Government Is Pushing Abortion Underground
Last year, overwhelming popular protest in Poland defeated a draconian abortion ban pending in Parliament. The new law would have ended all forms of abortion in Poland, put women who had illegal abortions in jail, mandated criminal investigations into "suspicious" miscarriages, and restricted access to antenatal testing.
While the measure was defeated, the anti-abortion culture that led to its proposal continues in Poland, along with a steady erosion of women's reproductive rights: According to journalist Alex Cocotas, abolitions have effectively been banned since 1993, which permits abortions only in "exceptional circumstances" in which the mother's life or health is endangered, the fetus has a severe congenital disorder; or if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.
Limitations on women's reproductive freedoms don't end there:
Social pressure from church groups and an opaque approval process are threatening existing rights. Oral contraceptives are difficult to obtain, while emergency contraceptives now require a prescription, after legislation that came into effect in July.
In this article, Cocotas examines how Polish women's dwindling access to reproductive options has led to a flourishing black market: Today, the only women in Poland who have true reproductive freedom are the ones with the financial resources to buy them.
Following the 1993 law, "a black market for surgical abortions quickly emerged to meet demand, operating at first out of many gynecologists' private offices". Consequently, the price of abortion spiked, roughly equivalent to a Pole's average monthly income.
Others resort to online purchases of drugs to terminate pregnancies, or travel to neighboring countries for surgical abortions. The result is reproductive options only for those who can afford them.
A fascinating read on a real-life case study on what happens when reproductive rights are driven underground.
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