The Polish Constitutional Court ruled that abortions due to fetal deformities were not in conformity with the Constitution, and therefore illegal.
A decision that amounts to a virtual ban on abortion and has taken thousands of women to the streets, in a country where the legislation is already very tough.
The ultra-Catholic and nationalist Polish government wanted to restrict abortion, it is now done.
In a country where the conditions of access to abortion are already among the most restrictive in the EU, the Constitutional Court considered that the existing legislation authorizing the abortion of malformed fetuses was "incompatible" with the country's Constitution .
This new restriction sent thousands of Poles into the streets.
A restriction that endangers women
In the texts, the practice of voluntary termination of pregnancy remains authorized, but it will now be possible to abort only in three cases: in the event of rape, incest, or if the pregnancy presents a risk for the health of the woman. mother.
These particular cases represent only 2% of abortions performed legally according to the Federation for Women and Family Planning (Federa).
In 2019, there were only 1,100 identified in a country of 38 million inhabitants, where Catholic religious practice is very pronounced.
Before this decision, 98% of legal abortions were justified by reasons of malformations.
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On the other hand, Polish women had already massively resorted to underground abortion: nearly 200,000 are performed each year according to NGOs.
"A woman who wants to have an abortion will do it anyway," warned the director of the Federa.
Krystyna Kacpura explains that "the sanitary conditions in which they will have an abortion depend on their wallet. If they have the money, they can go abroad and have an abortion safely but otherwise they will do it in dangerous conditions. is afraid for the health and especially for the life of these women in Poland ".
Only 10% of the population in favor of this restriction
From Thursday, groups of women took to the streets everywhere to protest against this measure.
Some have been arrested.
And on Friday evening, thousands of Poles took to the streets of different cities across the country.
"It's war," "Sadists, we're coming to get you," proclaimed the calls to demonstrate, streaked with symbolic red lightning, and the signs waved by the demonstrators.
In Poland the latest polls showed that only 10% of the inhabitants were in favor of a new restriction of the right to abortion wanted by the government.
This decision is a priori final, but it is contested by the liberal opposition and women's rights organizations.
Several European Union figures such as the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic and Donald Tusk have denounced these new restrictions.
The government in power, the ultra-Catholic nationalist party in power, Law and Justice (PiS), as well as the episcopate, were satisfied with this court decision.
"The views of the president (Andrzej Duda) in this matter are well known and have not changed. We express our satisfaction that the Constitutional Court has taken a stand on the side of life," said the spokesperson for the head of the State Blazej Spychalski, quoted by PAP agency.