- Title: 'Stop killing us': Polish women protest against strict abortion law
- Date: 14th June 2023
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (JUNE 14, 2023) (REUTERS) CROWDS DEMONSTRATING AGAINST ANTI-ABORTION LAWS AFTER PREGNANT WOMAN'S DEATH IN A HOSPITAL, CHANTING (Polish): "You're next" PROTESTERS HOLDING PICTURE OF PREGNANT WOMAN WHO DIED IN HOSPITAL AND BANNER WITH SIGN READING (Polish): "LACK OF LEGAL ABORTION KILLS!!!" PHOTOS OF WOMEN WHO WERE PREGNANT AND DIED IN HOSPITAL PROTESTERS HOLDING PLACARDS READING (Polish): "WE WANT DOCTORS, NOT MISSIONARIES", "PiS KILLS" (English) "STOP KILLING US" AND (Polish) "NOT ONE MORE" PLACARD WITH ILLUSTRATION OF WOMAN CRUCIFIED ON FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM AND TEXT READING (Polish) "NOT A SINGLE ONE MORE" (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 40-YEAR-OLD OFFICE WORKER, MAGDALENA (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), SAYING: “I came here because I do not agree with women dying, that they have no choice, that doctors have some conscience clause. If they want conscience clauses, they should change their profession. Women are dying because of them and also because of the law that has been established in Poland.†PROTESTERS CHANTING (Polish): "NOT A SINGLE ONE MORE" PROTESTER HOLDING PLACARD WITH PICTURE OF POLISH CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL PRESIDENT JULIA PRZYLEBSKA AND TEXT READING (Polish): "The murderer of human rights" PLACARD WITH PICTURE OF LEADER OF RULING PIS (LAW AND JUSTICE) PARTY JAROSLAW KACZYNSKI AND TEXT READING (Polish): "STOP MURDERING" PROTESTERS STANDING WITH PLACARDS WITH NAMES OF PREGNANT WOMEN WHO DIED IN HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 20-YEAR-OLD STUDENT, AGA (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), SAYING: “The message is simple but clear. No one should die because of religious fanaticism. Actually, exactly, by the whims of religious fanatics.†PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATING (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 36-YEAR-OLD ECONOMIST, JOANNA JEDRASIAK, SAYING: “No I don’t have (children) yet. I would like to have children very much, and to experience pregnancy, give birth to a healthy child, without the kind of problems that a few women who we commemorate here today had.†PHOTOS OF WOMEN WHO WERE PREGNANT AND DIED IN HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 36-YEAR-OLD ECONOMIST, JOANNA JEDRASIAK, SAYING: "I hope the law will change and I will not be afraid to get pregnant." PROTEST IN PROGRESS EXTERIOR OF CHURCH / BANNER WITH ICON OF PREGNANT WOMAN AND SIGN READING (Polish): "PIS (Ruling Law and Justice party) kills" PROTESTERS MARCHING
- Embargoed: 28th June 2023 19:34
- Keywords: Polish law abortion in Poland protest in Warsaw women protesting
- Location: WARSAW, POLAND
- City: WARSAW, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001001414062023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Abortion rights supporters marched through Warsaw and several cities in Poland on Wednesday (June 14) after the death of a pregnant woman whose family believe she could have survived if she had been offered a termination.
Protesters chanted "not a single one more" as they marched through the capital Warsaw towards the health ministry headquarters. Some carried placards that said "stop killing us" and "we want doctors, not missionaries".
Poland's anti-abortion laws, among the strictest in Europe, have provoked mass protests in recent years and the death of the 33-year-old named as Dorota in May has stoked anti-government sentiment among many liberal Poles ahead of elections due in October or November.
In 2021, the nationalist government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki put into effect a constitutional court decision banning terminations of pregnancies with fetal defects, as conservative policies increasingly take root in one of Europe's most devout Catholic countries.
Abortion rights activists have said that there were at least five cases of pregnant women dying whose families came out to the media, blaming the restrictions on abortion for their deaths.
(Production: Kuba Stezycki, Malgorzata Wojtunik) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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