In a post on social media, the head of the Tempi 2023 Accident Victims’ Association said that the focus on her comments about abortion was part of a broader effort to undermine her politically and divert attention from major institutional and social issues.

“I waited stoically until yesterday evening, watching the complete ‘undressing’ of the media,” she wrote. According to Karystianou, most media outlets ignored the institutional issues raised in her interview and focused exclusively on what she described as an untimely question about abortion, sidelining issues such as government scandals, institutional degradation, the plight of farmers, rising living costs, and the collapse of health and education.

She argued that her response on abortion was “intentionally distorted by those who are unscrupulously complicit in the political contract of my character assassination.” Karystianou stressed that no human right is subject to consultation or negotiation and accused her critics of turning a complex medical and legal issue into a political game.

Karystianou stated that those attacking her do not genuinely care about women’s rights, motherhood, the demographic problem, or the social conditions that lead women or couples to choose abortion. She argued that the real objective of the attacks was to halt the emergence of a broader social movement that could shift public debate back towards society and institutions.

Clarifying her position, she said that when she referred to public dialogue, she meant discussion about the social causes that lead thousands of women to make such a difficult decision. These include lack of information among young people, absence of systematic sex education, limited access to modern contraception, and gaps in social welfare.

She called for substantive dialogue to focus on public health and social policy, including comprehensive welfare structures for pregnant women and new mothers, free access to family planning and contraception, support for single-parent families, and measures that allow women to combine pregnancy with work or studies without being forced into impossible choices.

Karystianou concluded that the country’s demographic and social crisis cannot be addressed through restrictions on rights, but only through a strong welfare state that offers real support and genuine choices. She underlined that women’s freedom is meaningful only when accompanied by economic security, access to healthcare, decent working conditions and effective maternity protection..

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