Poland’s High Court recently issued a ruling that would nearly ban all abortions. This caused nationwide outrage, and women all over the country flocked to the streets in protest of the draconian laws that have been put in place. These protests come despite the threat of prosecution that has been imposed upon the protestors. There is also the threat of increasing coronavirus cases.
Many of the women had the red lightning bolt that has become the iconic image of the movement emblazoned on their clothes, as the police and military security officers flanked them as they marched. They were joined by thousands of men and a wide array of groups who believe that the hard-won freedoms of the post-communist era are slipping away under the rule of the increasingly autocratic Law and Justice Party.
Poland’s High Court has ruled that abortion due to disorders in the unborn child is unconstitutional, rejecting the most common of the few legal grounds for pregnancy termination in the predominantly Catholic country.
The ruling came after conservatives from the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party submitted a motion to the tribunal, asking them to review the law. The ruling lays the legal framework for PiS lawmakers to approve draft legislation that would ban the termination of pregnancies in the case of congenital defects — one of the few instances under which a pregnancy could still legally be terminated in the country.