ANTI-ABORTION RULING SPARKS PROTESTS

Warsaw Police in Poland used pepper spray and arrested 15 people during protests against a ruling by the country’s Supreme court that could end virtually all forms of abortion in the country.

despite soaring COVID-19 rates, hundreds of protesters gathered near the Warsaw home of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice, the country’s governing party, and deputy prime minister.

Kaczynski has steered his party and the government along increasingly socially conservative lines.

On Thursday, the court found a law permitting abortion in situations when there was severe damage to the fetus to be unconstitutional.

The ruling, which will almost certainly become law, means the vast majority of abortions carried out in Poland will now become illegal.

currently, about 98 per cent of Polish abortions are due to fetal abnormality, but abortion will now only be allowed in the case of rape or incest.

“It is a disgrace to the Polish state, and it is cruelty to women. In my wildest dreams, I never thought something like this would happen 30 years after the abortion law was liberalized,” said Krystyna Kacpura, director of the Federation of Women and Family Planning.