Poland : Mass Black Protests against tightening of abortion law [ENG]

Around 60-80 thousands of people have joined protest in Warsaw on 23.03. Demonstrations against the latest attempt by the conservative government to restrict access to abortion were held all over the country and in few cities abroad, such as Barcelona, Dublin,London,Berlin,Oslo,Helsinki.

In Warsaw on Friday, people held banners that read “Free choice” and “A woman is a human being”, and chanted slogans demanding reproductive freedom. Poland has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. The procedure is allowed only if the life of the foetus is at risk, there is a grave threat to the health of the mother or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. An attempt to ban all abortions in 2016 sparked mass nationwide protests by women dressed in black, forcing the government to abandon the plan.

The latest proposed legislation would allow procedures in cases where the mother’s life was at risk or the pregnancy resulted from a crime, but would ban abortions of foetuses with congenital disorders, including Down’s syndrome.

In Warsaw, protesters gathered at the seat of the influential Roman Catholic bishops, who are urging the further tightening of the law. They marched to the parliament building and later moved on to the headquarters of the ruling Law and Justice party. A protest of hundreds of people in Wrocław included a sign that said “I will not give birth to a dead baby”.

All the protests were organized spontaneously in 4 days by the people, none is leading them.