Poland rights activists hold protests over abortion ruling

After Poland’s top court ruled that a law allowing abortion of fetuses with congenital defects is unconstitutional, women’s rights activists staged new protests defying a pandemic-related ban on gatherings.

Katowice: Women’s rights activists held new protests in Poland on Sunday evening after a top court tightened the predominantly Catholic nation’s already strict abortion law.

Angry street protests have been held since the court ruling on Thursday, with protesters defying a “red zone” ban on gatherings intended to halt a spike in new coronavirus infections in Poland, and especially in Warsaw and Krakow.

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The Constitutional Tribunal ruled it was unconstitutional to terminate a pregnancy due to fetal congenital defects.

The ruling effectively banned almost all abortions and overturned a hard-won compromise of the 1993 law that still was one of Europe's strictest abortion regulations.

It means abortion is now allowed only when the pregnancy threatens the woman's health or is the result of rape or incest.

One leader of a women's rights group said there will be street blockades on Monday, a strike on Wednesday and a protest march in Warsaw, the seat of the constitutional court and of the right-wing ruling Law and Justice party that is behind the ruling.

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Health Ministry figures show that 1,110 legal abortions were carried out in Poland in 2019, mostly because of fetal defects.

AP