Massive protests erupted all over Poland, as a bill that proposed an almost complete ban on abortion was passed in the legislature. The public through caution to the air, and sidestepped all the restrictions put forward in lieu of the coronavirus pandemic and took to the streets to protest. Human rights organisations from all over the world came out in support of this movement, calling out the Polish government for passing this bill.
In Warsaw, people took to the streets on Wednesday with burning torches and rainbow flags and held up banners reading “This Means War,” “I Think, I Feel, I Decide,” and “Hell for Women.”
The above protests were following a recent court ruling, which bans the abortion in case of the foetus having congenital defects. Several critics have argued that it narrows the already tight law to a near-total ban of abortions. It was made in response to a motion from over 100 ruling party lawmakers, whose names have not been made public. Termination of pregnancy will now be allowed only if the woman’s health is threatened or if the pregnancy is the result of a criminal act, such as rape or incest.
The predominantly Catholic nation has already had some of the strictest abortion laws in the European Union before approval of the newly tightened measures. Fewer than 2,000 legal abortions are performed in Poland each year, with many doctors refusing to perform the operation because of religious convictions.
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