Poland: pro-abortion protesters block several cities

Thousands of demonstrators blocked the center of several cities in Poland on Monday, October 26, the 5th day of a revolt against an almost total ban on abortion.

Read also: In Poland, the abortion battle resumes

In Warsaw, protesters, mostly young women holding up placards with slogans such as '

', '

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Have blocked several crossings in the city center paralyzing traffic.

Similar protests have also taken place in several other cities in reaction to the Polish Constitutional Court's decision on Thursday to ban abortion in cases of serious fetal malformation, as it would be "

" with the constitution.

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- “We will not give up!”: In Poland, the fight against the ban on abortion continues

The judgment, in accordance with the wishes of the ultra-Catholic nationalist party in power, Droit et Justice (PiS), restricts the right to abortion to only cases of danger to death for the pregnant woman and pregnancies resulting from rape or death. 'incest.

The major argument of opponents of the judgment is that this virtual ban puts the lives of women in danger by forcing them to carry to term non-viable pregnancies, while its supporters claim that it will prevent the abortion of fetuses diagnosed with Down's syndrome. 21.

Read also: Poland: demonstrations in Catholic churches against the ban on abortion

There are less than 2,000 legal abortions per year in Poland - and the vast majority of them are performed because of malformed fetuses.

But feminist groups estimate that more than 200,000 procedures are carried out illegally, or carried out abroad, each year.

This judgment was condemned by several groups defending human rights in Europe.

On Sunday, demonstrators targeted Catholic churches across Poland, a first in this predominantly Catholic country, a member of the European Union.

Protests against the court's decision are expected to continue in the coming days, organizers said.