Monday, October 03, 2016
by Abby Zimet, staff writer, Common Dreams
Tens of thousands of women across Poland have declared a national strike, refusing to do either paid or domestic work, to protest a "barbaric" new law that would make it almost impossible for women in the largely Catholic country to get abortions. Over 5,000 angry women and their supporters marched in Warsaw in the rain on what they dubbed "Black Monday" - in mourning for their reproductive rights - against a law that could send to prison women who have abortions and their doctors.
Poland already severely restricts abortion, which is allowed only if the woman's life is in danger, there is serious risk of damage to a fetus, or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest - which must be confirmed by a prosecutor; activists say tens of thousands of women already cross to Germany or Slovakia to have the procedure. The new law proposed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski's right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government would ban abortion unless a woman's life is in direct danger, period. Women who have abortions face five years in prison for the "death of a conceived child," doctors assisting them could face jail time, and another bill would curb in-vitro fertilization; critics say the bills are so badly written they could also punish miscarriage and prevent prenatal tests or lifesaving surgeries operations for fetuses.
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Source: Common Dreams