On Sunday, thousands of people rallied against Poland's proposed ban on abortions. The protest outside the parliament in Warsaw comes after the nation's prime minister and the government's ruling party announced they support a complete ban on abortions as advocated by the Catholic bishops.
The pro choice rally was arranged by a small socialist party in Warsaw, WSJ reports. Other protests were organized by the opposition parties in various areas as soon as Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Law and Justice party chairman said that he supports the teachings of the bishops on abortion.
Another political leader, Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo also claimed that she supports the ban on abortion. According to Kaczynski, a huge part or even all of the Law and Justice legislators will support the ban. The issue of reproductive rights in Poland has been a cause of debate in the recent months.
People were chanting "keep your hands off the uterus" and "my body, my business." Protesters also waved wire coat-hangers as a symbol of rough pregnancy termination tool in underground abortions, The Guardian reported.
"Even Iran's abortion laws are more liberal than this proposal. That's why we must protest," said Marta Nowak, one of the protesters at the rally.
Since the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party ruled in October, they have restricted the regulations on abortions to make it uniform with the Catholic teachings. Their move was also aimed at infuriating the women's rights activists and the liberals. At present, the country permits the termination of pregnancy at an early stage when it endangers the life or health of the mother.
Poland also allows abortion when the pregnancy was caused by incest or rape and when the baby will be born handicapped. As a part of the legislation to ban abortions, the PiS is also planning to stop funding the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and start demanding prescription for "morning after" emergency pills, according to Euro News.
In 2014, there were about 1,800 legal abortions in Poland. As the protest against the proposed ban on abortions heats up, it seems that Poland is not yet ready to accept the law that would end underground abortion in the country.
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