Thousands of people took to the streets in Poland late yesterday after the Conservative government announced that the Constitutional Court's ruling effectively banning abortion went into effect after its publication in the Official Journal.
In Warsaw, protesters lit rockets, waved rainbow flags, the emblem of gay movements, as well as signs saying the ruling in force "means war".
The demonstration, which began in front of the seat of the Constitutional Court in Warsaw, blocked traffic, then the demonstrators headed to the seat of the ruling ultra-Catholic Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Similar demonstrations took place in other Polish cities, despite restrictions banning mass gatherings due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Poland, a predominantly Catholic country, has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.
According to official data, there are fewer than 2,000 legal abortions per year in Poland.
Feminist organizations estimate that around 200,000 abortions are performed illegally or overseas each year.
The decision of the Polish Constitutional Court was harshly criticized by the former President of the European Council
Donald Tusk
, according to whom the current Polish power is not really committed to the defense of life.
"After all, under their rule more and more Poles are dying and fewer are being born. Life is Polish women. Defending their rights and dignity against the cynical fanaticism of power is our being or not being" he wrote on Twitter Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014.
WHAT THE JUDGMENT OF THE POLISH CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ON ABORTION PROVIDES
The ruling stated that abortions in the event of fetal abnormalities are "incompatible" with the constitution.
It means that all abortions in Poland will now be banned except in cases of rape and incest and when the mother's life or health is considered at risk.
The termination of pregnancy - according to the grounds of the sentence - is admissible only if there is a high probability of irreversible or fatal damage to the fetus.
The Court had reached the sentence on October 22 last, triggering harsh protests, with hundreds of thousands of people, especially women, taking to the streets in all the major cities of Poland, for days, despite the restrictions due to the coronavirus.
The scale of the protest also alarmed the episcopate, which for the first time in Polish history saw young people interrupt religious ceremonies to challenge the strong link between the Church and the current apparatus of power.
The government therefore had to resort to the army and delay the publication of the sentence.
The European Parliament also spoke on the matter last November, stating in a resolution that making abortion illegal in cases of serious and irreversible fetal malformations "puts women's health and life at risk", since most legal abortions in Poland, up to 96 per cent, is practiced for these reasons.