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Poland: Near-total abortion ban takes effect amid protests

APTOPIX Poland Abortion Ruling
Posted at 11:09 PM, Jan 28, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-28 23:09:44-05

A near-total ban on abortion has taken effect in Poland three months after a top court ruled that the abortion of congenitally damaged fetuses is unconstitutional.

Led by a women’s rights group, people poured onto the streets of Warsaw and other cities for the second evening in a row on Thursday to protest the move. Some Polish women are saying if they can't terminate pregnancies in cases of badly deformed fetuses, they won't try to have children at all.

Poland’s top human rights official denounced the further restriction of what was already one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, calling it a tragedy for women which condemns them “to torture.”