Polish abortion law protesters march against proposed restrictions

Polish women have gathered in cities across the country to protest against a proposal to ban abortions in cases where foetuses are badly damaged or have no chance of survival after birth.

Many wore black, a symbol of mourning for the feared loss of reproductive rights, as they took to the streets of Warsaw, Gdańsk, Łódź, Wroclaw, Poznań and other cities and towns across the predominantly Roman Catholic nation of 38 million.

“Girls just want to have fundamental rights,” one banner proclaimed.

The protests on Monday follow a similar round of street demonstrations in early October, a reaction to a proposal for an even more restrictive law which would have banned abortion in all cases, including rape, and imposed prison sentences of up to five years on women and doctors involved in terminating pregnancies.

Massive so-called “black protests” forced lawmakers to abandon that proposal.

The women, joined by many men, have returned to the streets in response to a new proposal by Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the ruling Law and Justice party. Earlier this month, he said his party wants to ensure that even pregnancies involving a child “certain to die, very deformed, still end up in a birth, so that the child can be baptised, buried, have a name”.

In the weeks since the first round of protests, the grassroots movement advocating abortion rights has increased its demands. Those who turned out on Monday also called for better sex education and easier access to birth control while also demanding that the influential Roman Catholic church end its “interference” in political life and public education.

Clashes broke out between abortion rights supporters and anti-abortion activists outside a metro station in central Warsaw where demands were laid out in a petition that a steady stream of people lined up to sign.

“We want to live in a secular society,” said Agata Rybka, a 24-year-old student of biotechnology at Warsaw University who had volunteered to oversee the petition signing. “Right now religious issues dominate public discourse and we don’t like it.”

Poland already has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with terminations only allowed in cases of rape, when the foetus is irreparably damaged and when the woman’s life or health is in peril.

The new proposal would not amount to a total ban, and would still allow abortion in cases of rape or if the woman’s life or health is in danger.

Dorota Szumilak, a 44-year-old financial analyst, signed the petition, explaining that she did so because she saw in the abortion ban proposal an attempt to restrict women’s rights more broadly. A Lutheran, she said she feels discriminated against in a society where the Catholic church runs religion classes in the schools and is now supporting further restrictions on abortion.

“The role of the church is now too strong,” she said.

She was with a friend, Malgorzata Brendel, 53, who said the attempts to tighten the abortion law had prompted her to become one of a growing number of Poles who are now formally leaving the Catholic church.

Polish abortion law protesters march against proposed restrictions

Thousands of professional-abortion protesters collect in Spain

Pro-abortion demonstrators from across Spain wave indicators in Madrid. Photograph: Dani Pozo/AFP/Getty Photos

Tens of 1000′s of Spaniards have taken to the streets of Madrid in a demonstrate of force against government programs to roll back access to abortion in the country.

Waving homemade indications with messages this kind of as “My ovaries: not those of priests, nor of politicians”, the crowd chanted and whistled as it snaked its way by means of central Madrid on Saturday. Police stated far more than 15,000 had turned out.

“We are right here to protest towards a government that wants to get us back to the times of Franco,” said one particular demonstrator, Manuel Navarro. “We are stepping backwards with this law.”

In late December the governing People’s celebration accredited legislation that would severely curtail accessibility to abortion in the nation. Given that 2010, girls in Spain have had the appropriate to an abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy. In situations the place the mother’s health is at danger or when the foetus shows significant deformities, Spanish ladies can terminate the pregnancy until finally the 22nd week. Below the new measures place forward by the government, abortions in Spain would only be allowed in the situation of rape or when there is a threat to the physical or psychological overall health of the mother. Girls wanting abortions will need to have the approval of two medical pros to show these situations.

Carmen Veiga was virtually in tears as she surveyed the huge crowd. During the holidays, she and a couple of other females in the northern Spanish city of Gijón had come up with the idea of travelling to Madrid to supply a letter to the government demanding that it abandon the legislation. Seats on their “freedom train” were filled within days, prompting other towns and cities across the country to do the identical.

The consequence, explained Veiga, was a coming collectively of protest movements from across the country and the strongest demonstrate of force observed given that the government announced the measures just more than a month in the past. “It is amazing to see all these folks come with each other to defend women’s rights,” she mentioned. “And it is needed – what they are attempting to do is a brutal reversal of women’s rights.”

A lot more than 300 groups worked to organise the protest, and it showed in the selection of the attendees, who ranged from toddlers to senior citizens. Women’s groups pointed out that thousands of guys had joined the protest.

“This law impacts us just as considerably – we’re dad and mom as well,” said Rodrigo Martínez Barrios, twenty. “To me, this sounds like a return to the Middle Ages.” He was also suspicious of the timing of the bill. “Politicians are making use of this concern to distract us from the larger issues – the corruption, the crisis, the economic system of this nation.”

A single girl said she had woken up at 5am to make the 280-mile journey from Santander to Madrid. Carmen, who did not want to give her final title, looked about nervously ahead of leaning in to clarify why it was so important that she be here right now.

“This is my battle,” she explained, her voice shaking. Thirty many years earlier, she had travelled to London for an abortion. “I did not communicate a word of English. But I didn’t know what else to do.” A condom had broken and they knew they could not afford to increase a third kid.

“It was heartbreaking. And it was even worse that I had to depart my nation to do it or risk going to jail.” She and her husband scraped together whatever cash they could, draining their daily life savings to send her to London alone. “I am right here nowadays simply because I by no means want my grandchildren to go by way of that,” mentioned the 63-year-outdated.

Her voice rose as she extra: “It can’t be that following 30 years we’re back in the identical scenario. That signifies we’re not advancing as a country.”

The proposed measures come as statistics demonstrate that the number of abortions in Spain is on the decline. Nevertheless, the modifications are getting championed by the Roman Catholic church – a strong force in a country the place 70% of the population say they are Catholic. “The church would like to return to a time when they managed us, when they suffocated us. They want to get us backwards,” stated protester Mercedes López.

The People’s celebration has explained repeatedly that the scaling back of abortion laws was an election promise that it need to now fulfil. As polls demonstrate that among 70% and 80% of Spaniards are against the adjustments, the party’s stance has place it at odds with its electorate.

Current weeks have observed prime minister Mariano Rajoy soften his stance on the bill. “The constitution and different opinions will be taken into account,” he told parliament last week. The Spanish congress, in which the People’s party holds a robust vast majority, is anticipated to pass the bill in late spring.

Thousands of professional-abortion protesters collect in Spain