For 23 years, the non-government organization “Domino” from Split has been working to promote women’s rights through education, counseling, public campaigns, and direct support. A team of just six employees is doing great things in the areas of political and economic empowerment of women, greater visibility of civil society, as well as legal and psychological support for women. These are also the three main directions in which they operate.
Written by: Vanja Stokić; Photo: Domine
Alongside them, at the completely opposite end of the ideological pole, various anti-gender movements have been active in Croatia for the past ten years. The most famous among them is “Walk for Life,” a movement that promotes the idea that life begins at conception, not at birth. Its followers oppose abortion and advocate for its restrictions.
Executive coordinator of the association “Domino” Mirjana Kučer, in an interview with eTrafika, recalls that the right to terminate a pregnancy was still in the Constitution of Yugoslavia, and that of the former Yugoslav countries, only Slovenia retained it in this form. Croatia has retained the Yugoslav law that guarantees the right to abortion.
“Croatia left it in the Constitution at the beginning of the nineties, but by some miracle, in the process of adopting the new Constitution, that article disappeared from the Constitution. This does not surprise me because already in 1992, the famous Ružica Čavar – she was a doctor and bitter opponent of termination of pregnancy on medical request – filed a constitutional lawsuit to examine the constitutionality of the law that allowed termination. So, this is that famous Yugoslav law from 1978, I think so. It is still in force in Croatia. Finally, in 2019, the Constitutional Court acted on that constitutional complaint and, in fact, the law is in accordance with the Constitution. Of course, it complies with the Constitution because it talks about the fundamental rights of people, human rights with the fact that the modernization of the new law is proposed. Therefore, abortion is not guaranteed by the Constitution, it is guaranteed by the law. Basically, abortion in Croatia is illegal, which can be seen from the personal experiences of women, and it can also be seen from ridiculous statistical data”, says Mirjana Kučer in an interview for eTrafika.
He adds that in the early 1990s, almost 36,000 abortions were reported in Croatia every year, and last year that number dropped to 3,500.
“Normally there has been a decline. First, the birth rate is lower. Second, no matter how much we resist the use of contraception, contraception is more present than it was before. Third, private healthcare is far more widespread than it was before. For example there is the medicinal pill that is not registered, which you can get online, for 200 euros or whatever. In a fact, we have a situation where spontaneous (abortion) is reported instead of termination of pregnancy on demand. All this is in a way an attempt to show that women do not terminate a pregnancy. That they do not want to terminate the pregnancy. Today, in 2025, the issue of abortion is exclusively a political issue and a question of the struggle for positions of political power in society that abuse the female body and women’s acquired rights. The right to protection of reproductive and sexual health”, she points out.
I would like to return to the Constitution for just a moment. You had that provision, it somehow magically disappeared. How much would it really mean to you if the rest of the Constitution precisely determined what women’s human rights are?
It would mean nothing. It would mean protection in the justice system or the protection system. So, if something is written in the law, of course you can refer to it and you can ask for the protection of the constitutional right and fight for the application of the law through the judicial system. But let us repeat again that in Croatia the right to medical termination of pregnancy is guaranteed by law. Just for comparison, a very large number of members of the young generation do not even know that abortion is legal in Croatia. That is funny! The fact that something is written in the law does not mean that it is implemented. We also have a law on gender equality. We also have a law on protection against domestic violence, so that does not work in practice. We have a definition of gender-based violence, however those who are responsible for implementation of protective measures do not understand anything. Therefore, the mere fact that something is defined through the law and through the constitution does not guarantee, in this political climate and atmosphere of conservatism, that it would be applicable.
Photo: Amel Uzunovic – Fotobaza.ba
However, often when we talk about reproductive rights, when we talk about anything, we start from current moment. Those issues are the long-lasted problem. The moment when laws began to be passed in Europe and around the world that allowed women to legally terminate pregnancies on request, at that moment the movement for a ban, the so-called pro-life, was activated, which has nothing to do with life, it is pure demagogy. And they were relatively far away at the beginning. I mean, there were people in Croatia who agitated against the right to abortion throughout the eighties. And that movement grew, I would say that somewhere between the first and second decades of the 21st century it experienced a kind of culmination. However, along with its culmination we reach absurdity. When we activists in Croatia got up on our feet at the beginning of the two thousandth, then some film from the seventies from the USA was shown in schools, where abortion was performed in that mechanical way, extraction with forceps and so forth. That has not been done for who knows how long. So, all their stories are more or less makes no sense to me.
But it is also a fact that in the 1990s in Croatia, 30,000 signatures were collected within a few days. And in 2020, it took a lot longer reach this number. Last year, Slovenian women had an international project where, we, from Croatia also participated – signatures were collected to ensure free abortion anywhere, for all member countries, through the European Union. I think that Croatia collected somewhere around 50-60 thousand signatures, with the fact that in the first 10-15 days it managed to collect 30-40 thousand signatures.
Do you know the approximate percentage of hospitals in Croatia or cities where abortion is not available at all? Are there any critical spots and why are they critical?
This was onging issue about ten years ago. Namely, things got more complicated with the introduction of the possibility of an appeal of conscience for doctors, but not only for doctors. I think that now the number of hospitals where abortion can be performed is from 50 to 70 percent, and it is constantly changing. There are hospitals where this cannot be done. I have not checked lately, I know that for some time it was not possible in Knin and in some smaller towns in Slavonia. So, everyone there refused to do it, that was actual about ten years ago when we had a correspondence with the Ministry of Health and demanded that the implementation of the law be ensured. It means that every hospital or every pharmacy, at pharmacies it is a refusal of contraception, it is not only a refusal of abortion. We are talking about the overall protection of reproductive rights. So then a woman comes and asks for contraception and the person is called to conscience, she must have another person with the same qualifications as her, who wants to provide that service.
Are you now talking about a situation that could happen or is it actually happening?
Yes, it happens. We had a case, maybe seven or eight years ago, when a woman came to me from a place Dugi Rat, near Omiš. She came and said that the owner of the private pharmacy refuses to give her contraception. Then we wrote to the Chamber of Pharmacy and received a reply that there must be a replacement. However, our people in these areas are virtuosos in playing around with the law. Then the woman comes and says: “Now we don’t have that, we’re sorry”. Or: “We didn’t order”. So, I did not refuse, but I actually refused to order. And then it is a question of how long my nerves can withstand that kind of fight.
Photo: Maja Vican – Fotobaza.ba
At one time there were about thirty gynecologists in the hospital in Split, only one gynecologist performed abortions. I think there are two of them today. But from the experience of some women who have had the experience of abortion, there is always that one person at the counter who actually tells you, “Well, you mustn’t do that, it’s not good, it’s murder”. And then you can be questioned by doctors as well. They were very determinent when it comes to thoese issues. And the worst of all is that this pattern of taking over the human rights ways of fighting and advocating for human rights is blatantly taken over by extreme conservatives who do not consider human rights at all. Absolutely wrong interpretation of what human rights mean, what minority rights are and which rights should be respected and prioritized in developed democracies.
Our female volunteers were on the streets in Split when there was this action “My Voice, My Choice” of collecting signatures for the European Parliament. According to their testimonies, not many young girls knew that the abortion was allowed by law and they were almost all against abortion. It does not matter if they are left or right affiliation. Young generations are more and more conservative and convinced that this is sacrilege and murder. In doing so, they forget why the laws are passed. Because women were dying, that the church itself once advocated abortion because there were too many children. So, this all indicates to someone who thinks with a healthy brain, that those who are in power in society have always manipulated the body of a woman and women’s freedoms and rights in order to achieve some social benefit of their own or their vision of society or the social agenda they advocate.
You have now talked, to a large extent, on how the call to conscience affects women in Croatia. I guess they have to travel to other bigger places, maybe even states to get an abortion?
Bigger or smaller. For example, for some time women from Split went to Šibenik. Because there were no inconveniences and the question: “But why would you have an abortion, so give birth to that child, you can give it away, we will help you”. The church, for example, in Croatia offers so-called houses for mother and child, where you can live with that child for three years, and then they will help you get a job and I do not know what else. Everything seems to be in order, but life is something else, and stories and promises are completely different.
You are saying that abortion is not actually legal. Although it is stated in the law, it is not legal in practice. If they succeeded in delegitimizing it and outlawing it, what kind of climate would that create for women? We often say that if they were to go back to the dark rooms where an abortion would be performed using some mechanical, old-fashioned methods, their lives would be put into question.
I do not think this will happen. First, Croatia had the opportunity to ban abortion and did not. Because abortion is a source of income for those who perform it, even if they have a conscience. So, we are highly moral and conservative, but above all we are a corrupt society. However, trust me, abortion will never be banned. It will sooner disappear in such a way that I can go to the drugstore, take the pill, which I should be able to do, and the day after communicate it with my gynecologist without any problems or without a gynecologist, than it will happen that abortion is banned. It will not be banned because it is a source of manipulation and corruption.
And now what you said, maybe. Nobody knows what tomorrow brings. Maybe it happens, some kind of medicine crisis, maybe everything goes to hell, so the concept of the handmaid’s tales really happens. When we look at how women live in some areas, when we listen to those conservatives, we should not be surprised at anything, but my life experience or principle, or some kind of optimism, whatever keeps me alive tell me different. Progress cannot be stopped, so we can go back a little bit in time, but relatively quickly we will find ourselves much further ahead than we were at the time when we went back. I think it is important to keep in mind in these cat and mouse games, abortion will not be banned through women.
Today it is easier in Croatia, because the abortion is no longer the focus of political fights, because those who advocated abortion have lost media attention and have lost strength. They tried through civil society, through politics, through media appearances, but their way simply did not find success. Every now and then, public opinion polls are conducted to see how many people actually support the right to medical abortion. That number is always somewhere around 75 percent.
It is an interesting point of view, that abortion is a source of money for people who even advocate for its abolition.
Abortion is, say, 350 or 500 euros. You perform it in the hospital, pay the doctor, the doctor reports it as spontaneous and healthcare pays the hospital. Or doctor says: “Come to me”. Well, you pay 700 or 800 euros for it there, I have no idea what the prices are now. This will be happening as long as we have that health system where what is private and what is public is not defined. I am telling you, that is how it was in the former state, let alone now.
Yes, whatever you say, people love money and our corruption is very present. I noticed that people who are not so familiar with women’s reproductive rights and activism in general, think that activists actually promote abortion, that abortion should be done. And they actually defend a woman’s right to have an abortion, which are two completely different sides. What other myths have you come across in your practice?
The biggest myth is that life begins at conception. I graduated from law a long time ago, so the concept of man, human rights and the law is clear to me. And I know what are rights, when a newborn has certain rights, if at all, in which situations. And philosophically, not only legally. He/she is a being, a human being, the moment he/she utters his/her voice, when he/she cries. So, those rumors about heartbeats, about embryos, about this, that makesno sense. I remember once, I do not know what happened to me, I agreed to talk with this other side. Then began one of the their events, 40 days of prayer for life in front of hospitals. I think the organizers of that event called me and there was a medical professor who went far to the rightwing. The ratio was one to ten, them to, us, activists. And then we discussed some issues and now at one point that professor said to me: “No, Mirjana, you are not right. When she is pregnant, a woman’s body does not belong to her“. That was ten years ago. I must admit that it surprised me at the time. This is common rhetoric today.
So whom does a woman’s body belong to?
It does not belong to her. Because she carries another body inside her. And for God’s sake, I do not have an answer to that question to whom it belongs, let’s be clear. Everything comes from the United States. I do not know the name of that cardinal or what he was, who started that ‘pro-life’ movement. So, firstly, that life begins with conception, that abortion is murder, these are very well thought out messages for influencing and brainwashing. And that a woman’s body does not belong to a woman. Like it belongs to a woman, but it does dot belong to a woman when she’s pregnant. Because she is carrying another body for which she is responsible and if she terminates the pregnancy she will kill him.
You have to be an extremely strong person, self-aware, and especially if you are young, so that all this demagoguery would not affect you. It is not easy to listen to brainwashing every day. That propaganda is actually very strong. If there were no changes in the education system, the entry of the church into schools, conservatism would certainly not have influenced young people at such a speed. Currently, in Croatia, they have never been more conservative, never more right-wing. And to make matters tragic, they do not think at all about the values they declare or advocate.
Speaking of schools, people are against sex education, because they think that it is actually encouraging children to have sexual relations. However, sex education and free contraception are very good at preventing abortion, and they are fighting to prevent abortion. Which is a great irony.
Yes, yes, but they do not fight. So, it is a complete attack on women’s, sexual and reproductive health. It was easiest to point out that abortion is murder. However, the advocates are for the family in the traditional sense, which means mom, dad, brother, sister and even possibly another brother and sister, because the more children the better. They are in favor of banning contraception, they are in favor of banning medically assisted fertilization. Let’s say this team that started in Croatia with these marches for life, in the beginning they said that they were not in favor of a ban, but that they were going out to raise awareness. Two or three years ago, when the resistance of the activists weakened a little, they openly advocated the ban. They openly point out that abortion is something that is very bad and should be banned. They are against contraception, against medically assisted reproduction, against adoption of children. Not to mention premarital chastity.
This has been going on for a very long time with you, have you noticed how public opinion has changed over the years in relation to this issue? And during all those years, who are your allies in the fight?
The problem with Croatia is this kind of silence. The majority of the population is against it (limiting the right to abortion). And they like to tell themselves, those who are silent and do not go out on the street, that they are like advanced, progressive, that they will never vote for those persistent attacks on human rights, but at the same time they justify themselves that they will not move to the extreme left. I recently watched a journalist, who actually made a good point: “Don’t tell me about the extreme left. It can’t be extreme, because it stands for fundamental human rights”. So there is no extreme here, that is what is basic, what is fundamental. Give me basic human rights, right to life, right to work, right to water. Give me what is the legacy of a modern democratic society. There are no extremes here. The majority, 75 percent of people, are almost continuously against the ban on abortion. But these people do not go out in public and that is why an impression is created, that is why the “pro-lifers” started with various events. And then they try to create the impression that there are many of them. But usualy one person is in several organizations. One person, besides having several organizations, is in a political party. It gives the impression that there are many of them, but in fact they are not. They are actually a relatively small extreme right current in society, which gets on many people’s nerves.
But it is not enough that it gets on people’s nerves, something needs to be done. We do not expect people to do anything, but if these people show that they are against such pollution of public space, then we might have more arguments in hand to demand that the authorities do everything they can to protect people from such attacks. And the authorities are actually standing on the sidelines, watching it with folded hands and justifying it with the reach of the democracy that we have been creating. I am not sure if these attacks on human rights can be justified in that way. I am not sure. I am very bothered by the fact that women’s rights in politics are a cheap tool for political bickering and gaining some political points. A topic that sounds so convenient. Let’s speak out against violence, that’s really nice. And we will not do anything to reduce violence.
This year, people knelt in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time and prayed against abortion. Do you have any advice for activists from BiH? You said at the beginning of our conversation that some groups have had less media attention and their influence has declined. There is a lot of debate about whether we should react, and to what extent, in what way, whether giving them media space promotes them, whether it strengthens them? No real answer has been found to that question.
I join you on that. I do not know what to think about it. I think it is sometimes unnecessary to give them media attention. On the other hand, by giving them or not giving them, it will take place. They will operate on the ground. Now the question is how far it will be. I am somewhere halfway there. Now we have achieved a certain degree of democracy, everyone has the right to go out on the street and say I’m crazy, I’m naked, whatever, let’s walk past him. But then the question remains, is this really something we want for our society? I am not sure if this is responsible, I think we need to react, but we need to find a way to react. They should not be broadcast live and should not be sensationalized. I would analyze more what they want, who they are, where they come from, what they have achieved and how much it is in line with what we are advocating, which is that our societies should be modern and developed.
Photo: Alma Hasanovic – Fotobaza.ba
This movement began to develop more than 40 years ago. And now there is a kind of culmination. Let’s say that for the first 20 years we did not notice them, and then for some 20 years we faced a fierce attack of their activism, they appeared in different forms. This is starting to become more intense in Croatia, I think the turning point was in 2013, when they had that referendum on marriage. I think it was a turning point that gave them wings, which shoud not have happened. And then after four years came the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which they were very, very opposed to. And not only they opposed it, the ruling party also opposed it, but it was ratified by the same ruling party.
What we need, what we should have started about thirty years ago and what you mentioned, sexual education, civil education, changing education. The problem is not only that they attack women’s sexual and reproductive rights. The problem is that we live in societies of violence. If we look back, violence was far less present in society than it is now. Now it is present in every social pore, we do not notice it as much as it is there. This can be changed by school, education, on the one hand, and on the other hand by the media. Those who influence the most. Media, culture, art, whatever, those that influence the formation of public opinion.
That is absolutely true, everyone has the right to go out into the streets, organize protests, and propagate some ideas. However, they abuse that right because they want to limit some other rights. I have the feeling that activists, not only here in the Balkans but all over the world, are constantly in a state of tension, of spasm, constantly fighting to keep the rights that they have already won. Do you have that feeling? That you are constantly defending yourself and that you do not have a peaceful period when you are actually thinking about conquering new spaces, but are fighting convulsively to preserve what you already have?
Yes, that’s it. We are constantly reacting. This reactive approach should be changed to a proactive one. Proactive means influencing changes in the education system and reporting methods. It is something we can point to, we cannot change it. We are in some kind of social changes and I think that many female activists who have gone through certain struggles forget that they have gone through certain struggles and that new generations should come who will lead their struggles. It would be wonderful if those who will lead their struggles would reach out to the experiences of those who have fought the struggles and achieve continuity, but that is something we can only wish for. I am not sure that is how these things go, but the change of these systems or these societies we live in will certainly not come from those who have experienced other societies. It can only start from within, from those who have managed to realize that in fact they are not societies that sell themselves for what they are.
There are doctors whom we know are proven to use the appeal of conscience and perform abortions. There are women who advocate against abortion, and they have had abortions. So what now, should we be clean because we have repented of our sins? There are a lot of people who advocate something in the public space, but live something completely different in their private life. As for these kneelers, the Polish came to Split, they founded their organization in Split, and convicted rapists and convicted domestic abusers knelt there. Just as the war criminal Kordić knelt in Zagreb.
When you say Polish, do you mean Polish living in Croatia or did Polish really come from Poland to Croatia?
There is a Polish priest in a small church here, who came from Poland to serve there. And then he brought those warriors of Mary, what are their names. They founded that association and the first two times they knelt in Diocletian’s Palace, they came by bus from Poland. And then, let’s say, they come to Zagreb, they position themselves on the square of Ban Jelačić, and in Split they come at seven in the morning and then make a procession around the palace, come to the square and place their flags and then kneel there. And OK, who are we to demand certain behavior from others? If we have freedom for ourselves, you have freedom too, do what you want. But it is very, very difficult for me to accept that there are women who accept that when men kneel, they must stand and that they do not voluntarily enter their space. It is patriarchy at its worst. The men are there, and the women around them do not have access to their company. Let’s face it, we have it in our customs, at funerals, at weddings, where women are on one side, men on the other. But I say again, this is the year 2025, and it does not really go into my head.
It shocks you at first, and then little by little people get used to everything. And this is something where we have to ask ourselves where are the limits of our habituation, where is the end, where does the change begin? The only thing that worries me is that, let’s say, women from Croatia went to BiH, they went to Banja Luka a lot. I am concerned that this conservative wave is also penetrating into Bosnia and Herzegovina. It makes me sad in a way. At least it is some kind of catharsis that we all have to go through together and that’s it. When we talk about prevention, we have to talk about what happened. The wars that are behind us, which produced violence and trauma, until it comes out of our heads, we will not be so easily “healed” from that violence.
The text was created in cooperation with the Initiative “Women Citizens for Constitutional Reform”.
Taken from: http://www.etrafika.net
