Protests against Polish abortion ban defy lockdown
Protesters in Poland have defied the coronavirus lockdown to oppose a proposal that could almost completely ban abortion.
Public gatherings are banned, but videos show persons in the streets of Warsaw and Poznan on Tuesday standing around 2m apart and holding placards.
Others hung posters on bikes or posted videos online in a "virtual protest".
On Wednesday parliament will debate the ban on abortions of foetuses with serious abnormalities.
Poland’s abortion laws are among the strictest in Europe - it is only allowed in cases of rape or incest, if the mother’s life reaches risk, or if the foetus is seriously compromised.
The draft legislation would ban terminations of a foetus if tests show it to be irreversibly damaged.
Currently that accounts for around 98% of legal abortions in the united states.
Another bill up for debate would criminalise "the promotion of underage sex", which women’s rights groups say in place bans sex education in schools.
It states that persons who encourage anyone beneath the age of 18 to have sexual intercourse could face a maximum 3 years in prison.
Activists fear that conservative politicians could take good thing about the coronavirus lockdown avoiding opponents from organising large street protests.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on politicians to reject the bills, that have been first submit in 2016 by the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party.
But huge street protests where people wore black caused the federal government to withdraw the proposals.
“The Polish government’s focus during the pandemic ought to be to protect people’s health insurance and rights, not diminish them,” said Hillary Margolis, Human Rights Watch's senior women’s rights researcher.
The bills began as a citizens’ initiative that enables groups to propose legislation if they collect 100,000 signatures.
It is unclear if regulations and Justice party will support the bill.
An online petition opposing the bills has gained a lot more than 700,000 signatures and people shared videos using the hashtag #ProtestAtHome.
Several opposition MPs joined, posting pictures on Twitter.
Adam Szlapka posted an image of protesters observing social distancing beyond your Polish parliament.
And Franek Sterczewski criticised the government (in Polish) for approving the debate through the coronavirus crisis.
Journalist Zaneta Gotowalska wrote (in Polish): “The federal government is calculating that in the middle of a pandemic they are able to start discussing the draft bill for tightening the anti-abortion law. We can not gather, but we are able to still protest and say a firm no.”
Poland isn't alone in considering changing its abortion laws through the coronavirus pandemic.
In at least seven US states, politicians introduced bans on abortion citing public health issues.
Conservative governors including Texas Governor Greg Abbott argued that abortion is a non-essential medical procedure that must definitely be suspended to conserve scarce medical equipment for doctors treating coronavirus patients.
Bans on abortion have already been enacted in Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky, and introduced but later blocked by courts in Alabama, Ohio and Oklahoma, based on the news website Politico.
