Thousands of pro-choice campaigners marched in central Warsaw Saturday rallying against proposals for an almost total ban on abortion in the staunchly Catholic country, where the existing law is already one of the most restrictive in the EU.
Chanting "I exist, I think, I decide" and touting banners reading "Women's rights are human rights", thousands of women and men joined the "March for Dignity".
It was organised by the "Dziewuchy Dziewuchom" (Women for Women) Facebook group that has drawn over 100,000 members since being launch earlier this year.
"Women make up half of this country. We want respect. We want our rights to be respected," Bozena Przyluska, one of the march organisers, told reporters as it kicked off.
Adopted in 1993, current legislation bans all terminations except in cases of pregnancies that result from rape or incest, pose a health risk to the mother, or where the foetus is severely deformed.
Anti-abortion activists backed by the influential Catholic Church now want to table a citizen's bill in the conservative-dominated parliament that would allow abortions only when necessary to save a woman's life.
The proposal would also increase the maximum jail term for people who perform unauthorised abortions from two years to five.
Pro-choice advocates have launched their own plan to garner 100,000 signatures supporting a bill liberalising pregnancy terminations.
An opinion poll published in March found that, far from supporting further restrictions, 51 percent of Poles want access to abortions widened.
"I want to show my solidarity with women...everyone should be able to choose for themselves," Jerzy Grzegorkiewicz, a 63-year-old graphic designer and father of two who joined the march, told AFP.
Marcher Agnieszka, a 40-year-old pregnant mother of one who declined to provide her surname, told AFP she supports existing abortion legislation insisting that terminations "must be available in cases of rape."
In power since November, Poland's right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government has endorsed the restrictive citizens' bill.
The petition needs 100,000 signatures to be examined by parliament. The organisers have said they will continue their signature-gathering drive until the end of June.
Under 2,000 legal abortions take place in Poland each year.
There are no hard statistics on the number of illegal abortions performed, or on the number of women who travel abroad for the procedure to countries like Austria, Germany and Slovakia.
Women's rights organisations estimate their number at between 100,000 and 150,000 a year.
AFP report
All these protesters should go and sit down.
ReplyDeleteNa waah. This is serious
ReplyDeleteMan would often say 'yea' when it displeases God and 'nay' when it pleases Him.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm
ReplyDeleteSee as that one dey shout, vein dry show. Just use a condom and take several seats
ReplyDeleteInteresting. It's a sin and we all know but I love the fact that women are united on this.
ReplyDeleteIts a good law. We stop encouraging sleeping around, our young ones have lost moral value.
ReplyDeleteThou shall not kill. Fornication is a sin on it's own talk less of abortion.
ReplyDeleteI am 100% against abortion and i support pro-life. Please people should learn to use protection (Condoms), they are cheaper than abortion along with the stress, pain and trauma.
If you are married, nothing stops you from using condoms too. My husband and i use protections except when we agreed on bringing a child to this world.
Please, lets stop the killing.
I think the 1993 law is good enough and narrowing it down is not necessary. Its all religious bigotry. We all know that according to religion, if someone is raped, the child can become something good in future, or even from incest and prostitution good things can come but in reality, people dont appreciate this stance. So, it should be a thing of choice. If one is raped, she should be allowed to decide. You cant just foist a child on an unwilling mother and tell her to have faith. Law and religion should be separated. We have learnt this lesson from history. So, a mother will look at her child all her life and remember the uncle who violated her and took away her life. Its a far stretch to say she will end up loving the baby. What if she doesn't?
ReplyDeleteIf the church want to apply religion to laws, why dont they make laws to allow murderers go scut free and repent. Afterall Jesus forgave sinners. Afterall Paul as Saul supervised the killing of Stephen. Afterall, St Augustine or so was once a killer. Im sure they cant take that risk but will apply religion where it suits them just to show they're conservative.
These women protesting though, many have been doing illegal abortions. Lol. All this one na show. Who goes to govt clinic for abortion? But truth is, the new law will make the procedure more dangerous and reduce the number of 'illegal' abortionists around.