Poland: Vote from a protest march in Warsaw on an almost complete abortion ban

After these protests, the government had indicated that it was open to dialogue. But on Wednesday, it unexpectedly released the law implementing the court’s ruling, stating that abortions should be allowed only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman’s life is in danger, and it prohibits the termination of pregnancies with fetal defects.

The Constitutional Court ruling was the first amendment to Poland’s abortion law since 1993, but came after years of effort by the country’s right-wing government to restrict access to abortions. The ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) has placed anti-abortion rhetoric at the heart of its socially conservative agenda and has sought to pass a bill banning abortions due to fetal defects in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wednesday’s action prompted protesters in the capital Warsaw and other cities – including Krakow, Bydgoszcz, Opole, Szczecin, Łódź and Wrocław – to face a pandemic-related ban on gatherings of more than five people and take to the streets again. to go on.

A rights group known as Women’s Strike has led opposition to the new law as abortion has emerged as one of the most divisive issues since the PiS took power in 2015.

Those who marched in central Warsaw on Friday carried signs saying “Abortion without borders,” “Abortion is my right,” or “You will not burn these witches.” Banners with the lightning emblem of the Women’s Strike movement fluttered above us, along with the red and white of the Polish flag.

Some spoke to CNN about why they were released despite the pandemic restrictions, which were extended to mid-February on Thursday, and a heavy police presence.

“It’s very important to be here because women’s rights are being violated,” said 17-year-old high school student Zuzia. “I show support for the movement.”

Company worker Eliza, 46, who carried a sign saying ‘This is war’, said, ‘I think all women are here for freedom for Polish women. We protest here. A group of women are saying ‘no’ to our government and their decisions. “

“We are here because the verdict of the new abortion law went into effect and women became living incubators,” said Julia, 23. “The issue is simple for me: I want to have my rights and choice and I think everyone here thinks the same. and we must support each other. “

Psychology student Dagmara, 25, carried a sign that read, “It’s a right, not an ideology.”

Police were deployed in large numbers in the center of Warsaw. Speakers on police cars broadcast the message that the meeting was illegal and called on those present to disperse. Video of the protest showed tear gas being used.

But the crowd of protesters remained defiant as they walked to the official residence of PiS chief Jarosław Kaczyński in the northern Żoliborz district, wearing thick coats and scarves and wearing face masks as a precaution against Covid-19.

The protesters, spurred on by Marta Lempart, the leader of the Women’s Strike, took detours through backstreets to avoid police blockades. However, a large police presence prevented them from getting close to the property and the protest eventually broke out after midnight.

Kaczyński, the country’s deputy prime minister, is widely seen as the de facto decision-maker in Poland and the driving force behind the new abortion law. Even before it took effect, the staunch Roman Catholic country had some of the strictest abortion rules in Europe.

According to data from the Polish Ministry of Health, abortions due to fetal defects accounted for about 98% of all legal abortions performed in Poland in 2019.

“This statement is despicable,” says 25-year-old student Antek. “We are LGBT people and the government hates us,” said fellow student Aneta, also 25. The couple wore a rainbow flag and the red lightning bolt symbol of the Women’s Strike movement.

Weronika, 22, said, “I am here in solidarity with all the women and all the men who stand for women, with all the nonbinary people and all the people who have had enough.”

Neither the PiS nor President Andrzej Duda, who is backed by the PiS, have publicly responded to the new round of protests. CNN has contacted the offices of the president and prime minister for comment.

Kaczynski described in October that people who protested the abortion rule as criminals and warned that their actions during a pandemic would cost lives.

Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, of the opposition’s center-right civic platform party, joined the protest on Friday, saying on a Facebook Live that he “is in solidarity with the Women’s Strike.”

Warsaw police tweeted Friday night that the goal was to secure the protest and minimize inconvenience to other people. “We are only evaluating the situation by ensuring safety. Also the safety of other residents of our city,” said police.

Meanwhile, Urszula Sara Zielińska, a Green Party MP, tweeted that each of those who protested ‘despite the frost, pandemic and fear of police repression’ represented hundreds of thousands of others who were not in a sick country. “

It is unclear whether the latest protests will convince the governing coalition to take a different course.

But the dispute over women’s reproductive rights has once again exposed the cultural, moral and political divisions that run deeply through Polish society.