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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Oct 22, 2020 5:30:29 GMT -7
Poland abortion: Top court to rule on almost total ban
Published 43 minutes ago Poland's constitutional court is due to issue a ruling that could lead to an almost total ban on abortion.
Poland's laws are already among the strictest in Europe, with abortion only allowed in cases of rape or incest, if the mother's health is at risk, or if the fetus is seriously compromised.
But the tribunal will decide whether a 1993 law allowing terminations in cases of fetal defects is constitutional.
Human rights groups have urged the country not to increase restrictions.
Almost all abortions carried out in Poland are carried out in cases where the fetus has severe disabilities - the exact circumstances the court is due to decide on.
Protests against Polish abortion ban defy lock-down
The legal challenge was launched last year and is separate to a new abortion bill currently in parliament - also calling for an end to abortions in cases of irreversible damage to the fetus - which is backed by the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party.
A majority of the court's judges were nominated by the same party.
Polish sexual and reproductive health and rights activist Antonina Lewandowska told the BBC that the defense of the 1993 law was based on UN rules outlawing torture.
"It's inhuman, it's despicable honestly to make anyone carry a pregnancy to term, especially if the fetus is malformed, and 98% of legal abortions carried out in Poland are due to fetal malformations," she said.
Three international rights groups - Amnesty International, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Human Rights Watch - have said they will send independent monitors to the court ahead of the decision.
"The Constitutional Tribunal's upcoming proceedings take place in the context of repeated government attacks on women's rights and efforts to roll back reproductive rights, as well as legal and policy changes that have undermined the independence of the judiciary and rule of law in Poland," they said in a joint statement.
Previous proposals to restrict access to abortion under a citizen's bill but backed by many in the Law and Justice party were put forward in 2016, but the government backed down following mass street protests.
The current bill, which the party has also backed, emerged after an online petition.
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Post by pieter on Oct 22, 2020 10:50:12 GMT -7
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Oct 23, 2020 6:50:04 GMT -7
Poland abortion ruling: Police use pepper spray against protestersPublished 5 hours ago Police in Poland have used pepper spray against hundreds of people protesting in Warsaw against a court ruling that almost completely bans abortions. Protesters clashed with riot police outside the home of Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. More here: www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54657021
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 8:57:18 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 9:00:21 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 9:42:31 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 15:16:47 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 15:22:46 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 16:17:26 GMT -7
Poland abortion ruling: Protesters block roads across country2 hours agoThousands of people have blocked roads across Poland on the fifth consecutive day of protests against a court's near-total ban on abortion.
In the capital Warsaw, protesters blocked the main intersections, stopping cars and trams for about an hour.
Some carried placards with slogans like "I wish I could abort my government".
The protests are considered unusual in a country where the Roman Catholic Church has great influence.
They follow a ruling by Poland's Constitutional Court that abortions, even in cases of foetal defects, are illegal.
It means abortion is now only valid in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the mother's life.There were blockades in about 50 cities across the country on Monday.
The previous day, protesters disrupted church services and graffiti was sprayed on the walls of Warsaw churches.Abortion is a deeply divisive issue in Poland. A 2014 opinion poll by the CBOS research centre found that 65% of Poles surveyed were against abortion, 27% saw it as acceptable and 8% were undecided.An anarchist demonstrator with an Anarchist flag in WartsawHowever, for years opinion polls have found a clear majority against the latest tightening of the law.
There are just over 1,000 legal abortions every year in Poland, but women's groups say the number of abortions carried out illegally or abroad could be between 80,000 and 120,000.
Protests also took place outside the Polish embassies in London and in Kyiv.
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 16:24:29 GMT -7
2 days ago in Warsaw
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 16:32:09 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 16:37:42 GMT -7
The guest of Bartosz Weglarczyk in the "Onet Opinions" program was Magdalena Biejat, Member of the Left. She commented on the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal on abortion, as well as the protests in Poland that have been going on for several days: - It was necessary not to spit in the face of women in the midst of the epidemic. (...) End of the rotten compromise between men in suits and men in cassocks over women's heads. Abortion should be legal and safe - she said.
Aborcja | "Żołnierze Kai Godek zaczęli nas atakować " ~ Scheuring-Wielgus o proteście pod TK
•22 okt. 2020
- Being today [before the Constitutional Tribunal - ed.], I had the conviction that I was in the epicenter of some total madness - said Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus in the "Onet Opinions" program. The deputy of the Left was present in front of the building of the Constitutional Tribunal, where a hearing on the constitutionality of the so-called eugenic abortion.
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 16:44:29 GMT -7
Saturday's march of the Women's Strike from under the Law and Justice party to the Constitutional Tribunal
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 16:46:58 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 26, 2020 17:19:44 GMT -7
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