Women Protest Against Abortion Law in Poland
In the journal of law the constitutional court of Poland announced that it will not allow abortions for birth defects.
In Poland, when a woman is pregnant and it is found that the baby has some abnormality, earlier women could abort. But now the court announced that abortion will not be allowed for birth defects. Now Terminations will only be allowed for pregnancies resulting from rape, incest and or when a woman’s life is at risk. This would mean except for the above reasons, there will be a complete ban on abortions. Since the court announced the decision, women in Poland walked off the job and there were mass protests all over the country. Many firms have given women holidays to take part in the protest. The protesters have ignored a ban on gatherings of more than five people, intended to slow the spread of coronavirus, and have come out in force. Protests were both in modern urban areas and traditionally conservative smaller towns.
The Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has called for talks with protesters, while the President, Andrzej Duda, suggested a new proposal that would allow abortion in cases of life-threatening birth defects but not for conditions such as Down’s syndrome. Protestors continue to protest against the abortion ban saying that a woman must have the right to decide about her body. Poland has the strictest abortion laws compared to other countries in Europe. Every year, there are less than 2,000 legal abortions in Poland. Majority of these abortions are carried out due to damaged foetuses. Women’s rights groups have said that an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 Polish women either go abroad or seek illegal abortions every year due to the country’s strict abortion laws. They fear that the number could surge even further if terminations due to malformed foetuses are outlawed.
