Polish women go on strike against abortion ban

PanARMENIAN.Net - Women in Poland have gone on strike in protest against proposals for a total ban on abortion, BBC News reports.

They marched through the streets wearing black as a sign of mourning for their reproductive rights.

Women who oppose the ban are staying away from work and school and refuse to do domestic chores, in a protest inspired by a women's strike in Iceland in 1975.

Anti-abortion protests are being held around the country too.

Women took to the streets of the capital city, Warsaw, in a pro-choice march on what they call "Black Monday".

It is unclear how many women are taking part in the action and how widespread it will be beyond big cities.

The total ban was proposed by a group called Stop Abortion, then debated in parliament and sent to the committee stage. If the law went through, it would make Poland's abortion laws as restrictive as those in two other countries in Europe: Malta and the Holy See.

Women found to have had abortions would be punished with a five-year prison term. Doctors found to have assisted in an abortion would also be liable for jail time.

Critics say the law could mean women who have a miscarriage are also investigated, on suspicion of having had the pregnancy terminated deliberately. At early stages of pregnancy, miscarriages and abortions have indistinguishable symptoms.

The city hall in Czestochowa in southern Poland allowed female staff to take the day off, while several businesses have closed for the protests.

Anti-abortion activists are planning counter-protests and the Polish Bishops' Conference asked Catholics to pray for "the conscience and the light of the Holy Spirit on all Poles who protect human life from conception to natural death".

While pro-choice activists marched in black and tweeted pictures of themselves wearing black, anti-abortion activists choice white for the colour of their counter-protests.

Abortion is already mostly banned. The only exceptions are if there is a risk of severe and irreversible damage to the foetus, a serious threat to the mother's health, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

As a result, even by conservative estimates there are far more illegal abortions than legal ones in Poland - between 10,000 and 150,000, compared to about 1,000 or 2,000 legal terminations.