Poland is witnessing some of their biggest protests since the current government came to power. Thousands have defied the COVID-19 restrictions to protest a recent High Court ruling a near-total ban on abortion. Protests even disrupted church services on Sunday - a rare sight in a staunchly Catholic country.
Poland's ruling party has already tried (and failed) to restrict abortions in the Parliament; now the courts have done it. Many have accused the right-wing government of hijacking the judiciary and attacking the rights of people with uteruses.
Poland's abortion laws were already one of the strictest with nearly 100,000 women going abroad each year to sidestep restrictions. Obtaining legal terminations involves long waits and doctors refusing to perform them. Doctors can refuse to perform abortions (and even refuse to prescribe contraceptives) on religious grounds.
In 2016 Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, declared that they “will strive to ensure that even in pregnancies which are very difficult, when a child is sure to die, strongly deformed, women end up giving birth so that the child can be baptised, buried and have a name.”
Before Thursday's ruling, abortions were only allowed in case of fetal abnormalities, a threat to the mother's health, or in cases of incest or rape. The majority of legal abortions are due to foetal abnormalities.
The court ruling held that abortions for foetal abnormalities violate the Constitution, meaning the ruling can not be appealed. There is very little support for families of disabled children and they are left to fend for themselves once the child is born.
Protests have spread all over the country and protestors are finding support from unlikely corners including farmers and coal-miners. Protestors are demanding that the court reverse the ruling and many are calling for complete liberation from abortion restrictions.
Written by Anushree Appandairajan
Artwork by Zara Masood
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