(Warsaw) Several thousand people demonstrated across Poland on Tuesday to protest against parliament’s decision to reject a bill aimed at decriminalizing assisted abortion in the traditionally Catholic country.
The ruling coalition has pledged to liberalise Poland’s abortion laws, which are among the strictest in Europe. They include punishing assisted abortion with up to three years in prison.
The last attempt to relax those rules failed earlier this month, when lawmakers voted 218-215 to reject a bill to remove the provision banning assisted abortion.
Polish women’s rights groups have accused the ruling alliance of backtracking on election promises and called for nationwide protests, with the main rally taking place outside parliament in Warsaw.
In the scorching heat, loudspeakers blared with pop music as about a thousand participants chanted “free and legal abortion” and held signs reading “don’t touch our bodies.”
PHOTO KUBA ATYS/AGENCJA WYBORCZA.PL, REUTERS
The Warsaw demonstration was confronted by a handful of anti-abortion activists who, a few meters from the pro-choice rally, cordoned off by police, shouted “murderers” at the main demonstration.
“I’m afraid of getting pregnant in Poland,” said Aleksandra Socha, 26, a student in Warsaw.
In Poland, abortion is only permitted if the pregnancy is the result of sexual assault or incest, or if it poses a direct threat to the mother’s life or health.
Rights groups argue that the law has a chilling effect on doctors and has led to the deaths of pregnant women because their pregnancies were not terminated in time.
The Warsaw demonstration was confronted by a handful of anti-abortion activists who, a few meters from the pro-choice rally, cordoned off by police, shouted “murderers” at the main demonstration.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed regret ahead of Tuesday’s protests that he had failed to convince those who voted against the bill.
PHOTO LUKASZ GLOWALA, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister
Mr Tusk fired a deputy minister who did not support the bill and called for sanctions against another lawmaker.
“I’m doing everything I can to put an end to the hell these women are going through,” Mr Tusk said.
Three other bills aimed at facilitating access to abortion are still being debated within a parliamentary committee.
President Andrzej Duda, a conservative Catholic allied with the right-wing opposition PiS party, has made clear he will veto all bills, even if they pass.