Thousands in Warsaw join biggest protest so far against abortion ruling

Thousands of protesters from across Poland joined a demonstration in Warsaw on Friday against a top court ruling last week that amounted to a near-total ban on abortion in the predominantly Catholic nation.

Defying strict rules that restrict gatherings to five people during the coronavirus pandemic, demonstrators walked through central Warsaw streets carrying black umbrellas, a symbol of abortion rights protests in Poland, and banners that read "You won't have to walk alone" or "God is a woman". Military police lined the streets, some of them in riot gear, as the demonstration began at 1600 GMT.

It was set to be the biggest protest yet since a court ruling on Oct. 22 outlawed abortions due to foetal defects - ending the most common of the few legal grounds left for abortion in Poland and setting the country further apart from the European mainstream. Daily protests have taken place in towns and cities across the country in the past week, and have turned into an outpouring of anger against the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government and the Roman Catholic church closely allied with the ruling party.

Far-right groups which support the court ruling also turned out in small gatherings in Warsaw on Friday, and TV footage showed police trying to keep one group away from the protesters. The leader of the abortion rights movement in Poland, Marta Lempart, told activists to report any attacks and to resist any threats of prosecution or fines for taking part. "We are doing nothing wrong by protesting and going out on the streets," she told a news conference.

After the ruling goes into effect, women will only be able to terminate a pregnancy legally in the case of rape, incest or a threat to their health. In an effort to ease tensions, Polish President Andrzej Duda, a government ally, proposed legislation on Friday reintroducing the possibility of terminating a pregnancy due to foetal abnormalities, although only limited to "lethal" defects.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pledged lawmakers would proceed with the legislation quickly, but demonstrators were unimpressed. "This is an attempt to soften the situation for PiS, but no sane person should fall for it," activist and leftist lawmaker Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus told Reuters on Duda's proposal.

The government has accused demonstrators of risking the lives of the elderly by defying strict pandemic rules against large gatherings. Poland reported a daily record of more than 21,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. Five women were charged with organising an illegal protest in the town of Police on Thursday, which drew 850 people, regional police spokeswoman Alicja Sledziona said on Friday.

The Catholic Church has said that while it opposes abortion, it did not push the government or the court to increase restrictions. It called for people to talk and refrain from violence this week, but declined to comment further on Friday. PiS, however, has sought to instil more traditional and Catholic values in public life since it took over power in 2015, ending state funding for in vitro fertilisation, introducing more patriotic themes into school curricula and funding Church programmes.

Catholic anti-abortion group Ordo Iuris on Friday reiterated its support for the court ruling and opposition to the protesters, and called for calm. "As an institute, we must condemn any violence, no matter in which way it is perpetrated. Nothing justifies hurting another person even in the face of such social unrest," spokesman Maciej Grajewski said.

Some bakeries in Poland have been selling goods decorated with a red lightning bolt, another symbol of the women's rights movement in Poland, and some have written the phone number of a hotline helping women seeking terminations in chalk on sidewalks.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)