Poles protest new limit on abortion

WARSAW, Poland — Women’s rights activists furious over a tightening of Poland’s already restrictive abortion law staged protests outside and inside churches Sunday, disrupting Masses and finding themselves confronted with accusations of “barbaric” behavior.

With the coronavirus surging in Poland, large protests also erupted for a fourth straight night in cities large and small across the nation, including in Warsaw, Gdansk and Poznan, where police on horseback guarded a church.

In the southern city of Katowice, tensions were high as riot police separated protesters and about 30 people with the All-Polish Youth, a far-right ultranationalist group. Police used tear gas and scuffled with the women’s rights protesters after they began to push the police toward the anti-abortion group, the RMF FM broadcaster reported.

At the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, a group of far-right nationalists blocked stairs leading to the entrance. When one woman managed to push her way through, the nationalists grabbed her and forced her down the stairs.

The actions on Sunday followed a Thursday ruling by Poland’s constitutional court that declared that aborting fetuses with congenital defects is unconstitutional. Poland already had one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, and the ruling will result in a near-complete ban on abortion.

Scenes of angry young women entering churches and confronting priests with obscenities signals a dramatic historical change in Poland, where the Roman Catholic Church has been venerated for centuries.