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The strike was organized in the wake of growing opposition between protesting crowds and Poland’s highly conservative government, which promises not to budge.
Last Thursday, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that the laws currently in force in Poland, which allow abortions in cases of fetal malformations, are unconstitutional.
The ruling sparked massive protests across the country, revealing a large divide of 38 million. in a populated country that has long been a bastion of conservative Catholicism and is now undergoing rapid social transformation.
The anger over the court’s ruling that abortions will not be allowed even when the child is undoubtedly dead is directed against the Catholic Church and the leader of the ruling party, the country’s most influential politician, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
The women went to churches on Sunday to disturb the mass, attacking the priests. In some places, church buildings were sprayed with paint. In the past, such actions would be unthinkable in Poland.
Kaczynski accused the protesters Tuesday night of “destroying Poland” and called on his party supporters to defend the churches “at any cost.”
Borys Budka, leader of the opposition Civic Platform (PO), said in response to Kaczynski’s statement that “incitement to hatred and civil war and the use of party forces to attack citizens is a crime.”
He warned that the opposition could ask Kaczynski for a special court to hear cases in which senior government officials were accused of violating the constitution or other applicable legislation.
“We are not going to work”
Some critics compared Kaczynski’s filmed statement to the infamous 1981 declaration of war, and some saw his words as incitement to violence, as Kaczynski, 71, is the deputy prime minister in charge of police and security.
Bartosz Weglarczyk, editor of the Onet news portal, believes that Kaczynski is basically allowing soccer hooligans and far-right extremists to “hit people in the streets.”
“It just came to our attention then. These words can prophesy anything, including the declaration of a state of emergency, censorship, arrests and God knows what else,” Weglarczyk wrote.
The Ogolnopolski Strajk Kobiet movement, a leading organizer of last week’s protests, organized a nationwide strike with the slogan “We are not going to work.”
Polish media reported that some lectures at universities had been canceled, and the mayors of Warsaw and Krakow supported calls for employees not to go to work.
The ruling issued by the Constitutional Court last Thursday further toughened Polish abortion laws, which were already among the strictest in Europe. Once the order enters into force after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Judiciary, abortion will only be allowed in the event of rape or incest, as well as when the life of the mother is in danger.
Opponents say the court ruling will endanger the lives of the women, forcing them to continue the pregnancy in cases of major birth defects. However, advocates argue that abortions will stop when the fetus is diagnosed with Down syndrome.
To date, fewer than 2,000 abortion procedures a year have been legally performed in Poland, mostly with fetal malformations.
However, women’s rights organizations have estimated up to 200,000. abortions are performed illegally or abroad during the year.
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