Opponents of the ban on abortion hold a protest in the center of Warsaw.
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The reason for the protest, organized by the Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike) movement, was the recent death of a pregnant woman in Nowy Targ hospital, where doctors refused to terminate a 33-year-old patient named Dorota despite complications. The woman died three days later from pregnancy-related complications.
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On Wednesday evening, several thousand people gathered at the monument to Nicolaus Copernicus in the center of Warsaw. They brought with them posters with slogans “My body is my business”, “I am not an incubator”, “Stop killing us”.
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A small demonstration of opponents of abortions gathered near the nearest church, a few dozen meters from the place of the action. They hold signs “Abortion kills”, “73 million abortion victims annually” and say prayers loudly. The police cordoned off the participants of the two actions.
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According to the information provided by the organizers, such protests are taking place not only in Warsaw, but also in more than 40 settlements in Poland.
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Abortion has been banned in Poland since 1993. The only exceptions were cases where the pregnancy poses a threat to the life or health of the woman, when there is a high probability of a severe and irreversible developmental disorder of the fetus or an incurable disease that threatens its life, and when the pregnancy was the result of an illegal act.
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Earlier, the Constitutional Court of Poland ruled illegal abortion in case of severe violations of fetal development. Thus, in Poland, abortions are now possible only for two reasons: in case of a threat to the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy resulted from rape.