- Title: Hundreds demonstrate in Warsaw after Polish court abortion ruling
- Date: 22nd October 2020
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (OCTOBER 22, 2020) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY**** PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATING OUTSIDE CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL SIGN PAINTED ON PAVEMENT READING (Polish): "YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS" / PROTESTERS CHANTING (Polish): "Fuck off" PROTESTERS PLAYING DRUMS PROTESTER HOLDING CANDLE PROTEST IN PROGRESS PROTESTERS MARCHING DOWN STREET HOLDIN
- Embargoed: 5th November 2020 22:43
- Keywords: Constitutional Tribunal Law and Justice Polish law abortion law protests in Warsaw
- Location: WARSAW, POLAND
- City: WARSAW, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Europe,Lawmaking,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001D17OE2H
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE/ OBSCENE GESTURES
Protests gathered across Poland after the Constitutional Tribunal ruled on Thursday (October 22) that abortion due to fetal defects was unconstitutional, banning the most common of the few legal grounds for ending a pregnancy in the largely Catholic country.
Hundreds gathered in front of the Tribunal in Warsaw chanting 'come with us', some carrying candles and most wearing face masks to comply with coronavirus pandemic restrictions. Demonstrators then walked to the Law and Justice headquarters and the house of ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Small protests also took place in the cities of Krakow, Lodz and Szczecin.
Conservative values have played a growing role in public life in Poland since the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party came into power five years ago on a promise to defend what it sees as the nation's traditional, Catholic character.
Curbing access to abortion has been a long-standing ambition of the party, but it has stepped back from previous legislative proposals amid a widespread public backlash.
After the ruling goes into effect, abortion will only be permissible in Poland in the case of rape, incest or a threat to the mother's health and life, which make up only around 2% of legal terminations conducted in recent years.
It brings Poland further apart from the European mainstream, as the only EU country apart from tiny Malta to severely restrict access to abortion.
(Production: Aleksandra Szmigiel, Joanna Plucinska, Kuba Stezycki, Malgorzata Wojtunik) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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