My Body, My Business: Thousands Take To Streets In Poland Against Abortion Ban Ruling

Navya Singh

November 30, 2020

Poland’s feminist organization Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike) staged a protest in downtown Warsaw on Saturday, November 28, to attract public attention to the decision of Poland’s Constitutional Court to criminalise abortions and to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of women’s suffrage in the country.

Protest in Poland #StrajkKobiet #POLSKA #PolskaJestNajpiękniejsza #kobiet pic.twitter.com/ykvoCJfZ58

— Cuneyt CİCEK (@cuneyt21cicek) November 28, 2020

The rallies occurred after the October 22 decision of the constitutional court to rule that ‘abortion due to fetal defects was unconstitutional’. After the law is implemented, women in Poland will be able to legally terminate pregnancy only in case of rape or a threat to their health, Hindustan Times reported.

The situation in Poland has not gone away, and neither have we. Waterford has been holding a protest in solidarity with #StrajkKobiet every Sunday for the last month. Join us next weekend at 2pm at the Clock Tower. pic.twitter.com/E0lzBxzZz1

— Michelle Byrne (@Michelle_Byrne_) November 22, 2020

Protesters, including feminist communities, LGBTQ members, were seen chanting- ‘My body – my business!’, ‘Legal abortion!’ and other slogans criticising Poland’s governing right-wing Law and Justice Party that initiated the court’s consideration of the issue.

The rally’s participants blocked traffic in Warsaw’s central streets- Jerusalem Avenue and John Paul II Avenue. In response to the honks of drivers on busy roads, the protesters shouted: ‘We’re sorry for the inconvenience, we have a government to overthrow.’

The protesters also’renamed’ Roman Dmowski Square as ‘Women Rights Square’.

Heavy police deployment was seen as the cops asked protesters to show their identity documents and take the situation under control.

A picture is worth a thousand words… @AP & @gazeta_wyborcza photojournalist Agata Grzybowska showing her press ID as police ignore her credentials & arrest her at protest she was covering. #Poland pic.twitter.com/RgMn4LLXk7

— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) November 23, 2020

The protests against the anti-abortion law were also seen in other cities of Poland on Saturday.

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