Mass protests force Polish government retreat from attack on abortion rights
https://themilitant.com/2020/11/14/mass-protests-force-polish-government-retreat-from-attack-on-abortion-rights/
BY EMMA JOHNSON
Vol. 84/No. 46
November 23, 2020
Oct. 30 Warsaw protest against new Polish gov’t attack on women’s right
to abortion.
REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL
Oct. 30 Warsaw protest against new Polish gov’t attack on women’s right
to abortion.
Mass protests have taken place in Poland since an Oct. 22 ruling by the
country’s Constitutional Tribunal ordered a near-total ban on abortion.
Within hours of the decision people were in the streets. Since then
daily rallies and marches have grown. Even the police admit that more
than 400,000 people attended some 400 actions across the country Oct. 28.
These are the largest protest actions in Poland in decades. Polls in the
press say barely 15% of Poles back the threatened restrictions.
Feeling the pressure, the government has delayed publication of the
court ruling indefinitely, meaning it hasn’t gone into effect. Prime
Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appealed for talks with the protesters and
opposition lawmakers, as polls show a sharp drop in support for his
ruling Law and Justice party.
The court decision would ban abortion in the case “of a severe and
irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the
fetus’s life.” This was the grounds for 98% of all legal abortions in
Poland last year. The procedure is now only allowed in cases of rape or
incest, or if the woman’s health or life is in danger.
The government had tried to stop the street protests using COVID-19
restrictions that limit public gatherings to no more than five people,
to no avail. The justice minister had threatened to press criminal
charges against organizers for “causing an epidemiological threat.” A
conviction could lead to eight years in prison.
Similar demonstrations had pushed back government attempts to pass
extreme anti-abortion laws in 2016 and 2018.
Government officials had called protesters “barbarians,” “vandals” and
“left-wing fascists.” There has been a heavy police presence at some of
the actions, and some smaller clashes, but no mass arrests.
Some hospitals have turned away women who came seeking an abortion.
Krystyna Kacpura, director for Federation for Women and Family Planning,
told the media that many women have called, asking if the ruling is
already being enforced.
Protests have continued daily.
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Sam Harris
“Are you really surprised by the endurance of religion? What ideology is likely
to be more durable than one that conforms, at every turn, to our powers of
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and wishful thinking. Science is the one endeavor in which we have developed a
refined methodology for separating what a person hopes is true from what he has
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by-what, religion? No, by good science.”
― Sam Harris
