"It's the war !"
The martial slogan of the Polish demonstrators who have been pounding the pavement for six days reflects the anger and turmoil of spirits at the virtual ban on voluntary terminations of pregnancy (abortion) by the Polish Constitutional Court on October 22.
A call for a general strike was launched for Wednesday, October 28 in order to block the country and amplify the protest movement.
"We don't know how it will be followed, the whole organization is being set up very spontaneously. But we clearly feel the growing support of Polish society, in particular with the mobilization of young people who had not descended into the streets in the past, "Joanna Lasserre, president of the Association for the Defense of Democracy in Poland (ADDP), an organization created in Paris, in early 2016, told France 24.
In fact, the mobilization has only spread since the controversial decision of the Constitutional Court.
On Monday, tens of thousands of demonstrators tried to organize blockades in several Polish cities.
On Sunday, it was the churches that were the target of protesters, with anti-clerical slogans denouncing the role of the Polish clergy in this court decision.
Illegitimacy of the Constitutional Court
The way in which the Constitutional Court imposed itself on the question of abortion only reinforced the anger of the demonstrators.
"The ban on abortion could not go through a democratic vote in Parliament because each attempt resulted in significant mobilizations of women. This decision was therefore referred to the Constitutional Court by the gray eminence of power, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, in order to shirk responsibility for this decision, ”explains Joanna Lasserre.
Poland already had one of the most restrictive laws in Europe on access to abortion.
Women could only access abortion in three cases: danger to the mother's life, pregnancy caused by rape or incest, and malformation of the fetus.
It is precisely this last possibility - which represents 98% of abortions in Poland - which has just been banned by the Constitutional Court, on the grounds that it would be a eugenic practice.
This anti-abortion judgment has already revived accusations of illegitimacy with regard to this institution.
The conservative PiS party had partially purged the Constitutional Court shortly after coming to power in 2015, dismissing judges still in office.
The reforms of the Polish judicial system were then pinpointed by the European Union, which, at the end of 2017, launched proceedings against Warsaw for failure to respect the rules guaranteeing the rule of law.
The legality of the decisions taken by this institution is openly questioned by the opposition.
For Polish women, the virtual ban on abortion is a new step in the PiS program aimed at restricting women's freedoms.
"The title 'This is the war' of Klementyna Suchanow's book refers to the war that fundamentalists have declared on women. These groups want to bring women back to a certain role that cannot be accepted today by Europe, "says Joanna Lasserre.
Polish women committed to freedom of choice regarding abortion have no intention of letting the pressure drop.
The "Women's Strike" movement has already launched an appeal to all demonstrators to converge on Warsaw, Friday, October 30, for a big march.
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