London Protests Against Polish Court's Abortion Ruling

Photo and Video courtesy of Gabriela Wyszynska

Hundreds of people gathered outside Poland’s embassy in London on Monday to protest against Poland’s new abortion laws. Some carried placards with slogans such as “I wish I could abort my government”, “This is war” and “Enough”.

On Thursday, the Polish constitutional court issued a ruling that banned nearly all abortions - with exceptions only for cases of rape, incest, or where the mother’s health is at risk. Terminations in case foetal defects have now been outlawed, which accounts for 98% of terminations carried out in Poland.

Poland’s abortion laws were already among the strictest in Europe. There are just over 1,000 legal abortions every year in Poland, but women’s groups estimated that about 100,000 abortions are carried out abroad or illegally.

“I think it is important to remember that the risk for women’s health will be disproportionate across social-demographic groups, and for women who are underprivileged and can't afford travelling abroad it will be a greater tragedy” said Maria Lewandowska, a Researcher into reproductive health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. 

“The scale of the protests in Poland is absolutely beyond comparison to anything else that has ever happened in Poland” said an activist.