Policemen injured after Polish protest against abortion ban

Police on Monday detained two men and a woman who threw stones at a local office of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, private broadcaster tvn24.pl reported.

Five policemen were taken to hospital. One of them was hit in the face with a stone while another was burned by a flare.

The other three suffered minor injuries. All the officers have now been released from hospital, police spokesman Andrzej Borowiak said, as quoted by tvn24.pl.

Protests were held in a number of Polish cities on Monday after a citizens’ initiative to tighten staunchly Catholic Poland’s already restrictive abortion laws cleared a key parliamentary hurdle. The bill was last week 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. (tf/pk)

Source:tvn24.pl