Polish women in black protest against draft abortion ban
Thousands of women in black went on strike across Poland on Monday closing down restaurants, government offices and university classes, and blocking access to the ruling party headquarters in Warsaw to protest against plans for a total ban on abortion. Legislation proposed by an independent group would forbid any termination, tightening Poland's already restrictive rules that allow abortion only in the case of rape, incest or a threat to the mother's health, or when the baby is likely to be permanently handicapped. Official statistics show several hundred legal abortions are conducted in Poland each year. But activists say many women are denied access to the procedure when doctors invoke a legal right to decline to perform it on moral or religious grounds. Tens of thousands are done illegally, activists say, with many women crossing the border to Germany or Slovakia to obtain the procedure.
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