Women Strike in Poland as Tensions Over Abortion Escalate
- Protests expand into seventh day after new abortion limits
- Party boss calls pro-choice protesters reckless ‘nihilists’
The Nationwide Women Strike vowed to continue demonstrating until the government resigns.
Photographer: Czarek Sokolowski/AP Images
Polish women went on strike and tens of thousands took to the streets to protest a nearly complete ban on abortion, as a mass movement standoff against a government seeking to reimpose Catholic values extended into a seventh day.
The strike comes after Poland’s most-powerful politician, ruling-party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, called pro-choice protesters “nihilists” and pledged to defend churches from the demonstrations. Last week, the country’s highest court said that abortions were illegal in cases when the fetus doesn’t stand a chance to live outside the womb, ruling on a case brought forward by Kaczynski’s allies.