Thousands of people joined a rally in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday to protest a proposed bill that would institute a complete ban on pregnancy terminations, in line with the position of the Catholic church in the country.
The leader of the governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party announced earlier last week that he supported the call from Catholic bishops to tighten the regulations, which are already some of the most restrictive in Europe.
At the rally, organized by the leftwing Together party, protesters shouted such slogans as keep your hands off the uterus and my body, my business, while some waved coat-hangers as a symbol for the kind of underground abortions that are widespread in the country according to pro-choice activists.
Even Iran’s abortion laws are more liberal than this proposal. That’s why we must protest, one of the protesters told The Guardian.
The proposal by the Law and Justice party, which has a majority in the Polish parliament, would also do away with state funding for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and require a prescription for the “morning after” pill.