Sunday marks the fourth day of protests since Poland’s top court ruled on Thursday that abortion is unconstitutional due to a fetal defect – meaning the only circumstances in which termination is legal are in cases where rape, adultery or maternal life are in danger.
Ignoring a ban on gatherings of more than five people due to the coronavirus epidemic – the ruling sparked violent weekend protests in cities including Warsaw, Lodz, Poznan, Gdansk, Rocla and Krakow.
Protesters chanting abortion rights such as “Catholics also need abortion” and “We have had enough” attacked Poznan Cathedral in central Poland’s western Poland on Sunday.
Police were called to the scene, the group was abandoning, and social media and was given charge of 30 opponents by the police, according to Poland’s national broadcaster.
There were also demonstrations over the years, and images surfaced on social media showing activists on the altar of Our Lady Perf Perpetual Church: “Let’s pray for the right to abortion.”
Hundreds of protesters also gathered outside the presidency on Sunday night.
A ruling by Poland’s constitutional tribunal has removed one of the few remaining grounds for legal termination in the country, including some of Europe’s strictest abortion laws.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health in Poland, 98% of all legal abortions performed in Poland in 2019 are due to fetal defects.
More protests, including blockades, are planned across the country on Monday, while a national strike is set to take place on Wednesday, encouraging people to boycott work.
On Friday, rioting police stormed a crowd gathered near the home of the country’s deputy prime minister, ruling law and justice party leader Jarosla Kaczynski, widely seen as a de facto decision maker in Poland.
The move to further ban abortions was initiated by Poland’s pro-democracy government – which won the July presidential election by a narrow margin of 0.4% of the vote – for months.
Leaders opposed to abortion rights have accused the ruling party of law and justice of forcing the court to tighten the ban on abortion in order to please the party and the church.
“Yet, for her part, the church cannot stop defending life, nor can it abandon the declaration that every human being must be protected from conception until natural death.”
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