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POLAND

Poles rally against proposed total ban on abortion

Thousands of Poles, many dressed in black, rallied in front of parliament in Warsaw on Saturday to protest against a proposed bill that would impose a complete ban on abortion.

Wojtek Radwanski, AFP | Black-clad Poles vent their anger on October 1, 2016, over plans to completely ban abortion.
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Speakers at the protest said a total ban on abortion, including for women whose lives are endangered by a pregnancy, would be "barbaric”.

Polish law on abortion is already really strict,” said Gulliver Cragg, FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Warsaw. “It’s illegal except when the pregnancy is the result of a rape, or when the infant is severely ill, or when the pregnancy represents a threat to the life of the mother.”

“This bill would remove those three exceptions,” Cragg added.

'All progressives must unite against abortion bill'

Organisers of the protest said they want as few abortions as possible in Poland, but that this goal should be achieved with better sex education in schools and easier access to birth control.

Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bak, a member of the left-wing Together party, told the crowd: "We will not allow our hospitals to be turned into torture chambers and our doctors into prison guards."

Opponents of the bill have called on women across Poland to take part in a general strike on Monday.

The proposed legislation is backed by ultra-conservative groups, the Catholic Church, and some members of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, though Prime Minister Beata Szydło has so far eluded the issue.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

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