"Red card for abortion." Demonstrations will be held in Polish cities on Thursday

The date of the protests was not chosen randomly. October 22 is the anniversary of the Constitutional Tribunal's judgment, which tightened the regulations on abortion in Poland.

Let us recall that in 2020, the Constitutional Tribunal found unconstitutional the premise allowing abortion in the event of severe and irreversible damage to the fetus or an incurable disease that threatens its life. This decision then sparked mass protests across the country.

Unfulfilled promises of the government

The organizers of the current demonstrations remind that the liberalization of abortion law was one of the key demands of the coalition that won the elections in 2023. However, as activists emphasize, this demand has not been implemented so far.

The National Women's Strike points out that "the government has done nothing to change this. No solutions have been developed that, bypassing the veto, would make women in Polish hospitals feel safer."

The organizations emphasize that women with life-threatening pregnancies are still sent away from hospitals with information that they are not legally able to provide help and often have to seek help abroad.

Where will the demonstrations take place?

Demonstrations on October 22 at 18:00 will take place in 24 cities (including Gdańsk, Poznań, Jelenia Góra, Katowice, Kielce, Łódź, Bielsko-Biała, Warsaw, Lublin, Toruń, Piotrków Trybunalski, Kraków, Częstochowa, Olsztyn, Wrocław, Bydgoszcz and Szczecin).

This will be the largest demonstration on abortion in two years.

The initiator of the nationwide campaign is the Widzialne Foundation from Gdańsk, and other organizations working for women's rights are also involved in organizing local demonstrations, including the Women's Strike.