The protests placed Poland’s abortion laws back at the centre of a dispute over whether proposed legislative changes would deliver the broader access demanded by reproductive-rights activists. Reports did not provide an exact attendance figure or a complete list of protest locations.
Deutsche Welle reported that the demonstrations came six years after a landmark court ruling tightened abortion restrictions. The broadcaster also described Poland as having one of the strictest abortion rules in Europe.
Zofia Marcinek of the Abortion Dream Team said, according to The Hindu, that passing the draft laws a year before the next parliamentary election would amount to “token gestures” rather than a genuine effort to reform abortion law.
Euronews reported that, since 1993, Poland has allowed abortion only in cases involving severe foetal abnormalities, risks to the mother’s health or life, or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.