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Poles protest against near-total abortion ban

23.10.2021 11:00
Hundreds took to the streets of the capital Warsaw and other large Polish cities on Friday night voicing opposition to tighter abortion laws and demanding more rights for women.
Photo:
Photo:PAP/Radek Pietruszka

The protesters in Warsaw held up banners featuring such slogans as “The Tribunal took away women's rights a year ago” and “You will never walk alone”.

The rallies took place on the 1st anniversary of a ruling from the country’s Constitutional Tribunal which heralded a near-total ban on abortion in Poland.

The court’s decision and its subsequent implementation set off massive, nationwide protests at the time.

On 22 October 2020, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that termination of pregnancies due to foetal defects should be banned, eliminating the most common of the few legal grounds for abortion that remained in the predominantly Catholic country.

Under the new rules, abortions are permitted in cases of rape and incest, and when the mother's life or health is endangered.

(jh)

Source: Onet