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Protest against bid to ban abortion in Poland

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 01.10.2016 08:10
Opponents of a bid to ban abortion in Poland are planning to stage a protest by the parliament buildings in Warsaw on Saturday.
Photo: pexels.comPhoto: pexels.com

The planned protest comes after a controversial citizens’ initiative to tighten staunchly Catholic Poland’s already restrictive abortion laws last week cleared a key parliamentary hurdle. The bill was sent by MPs to the committee stage.

The initiative by the Stop Abortion group is backed by some 450,000 signatures.

It calls for a total ban on abortion - even in cases of rape and incest - and would make women who terminate pregnancies liable to jail time.

At the same time, members of parliament rejected a rival bid to liberalise abortion laws.

The pro-choice initiative by the Save Women coalition had been backed by over 215,000 signatures. It called for women to be allowed to terminate pregnancy on demand, up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

Poland’s current law on abortion, passed in 1993, bans terminations unless there was rape or incest, the pregnancy poses a health risk to the mother or the foetus is severely deformed. (pk)

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