Following widespread protests against a proposal to criminalize abortion in the heavily Catholic country, the Polish Parliament Wednesday announced it had abandoned the legislation.
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Tens of thousands of women–clad in black from head-to-toe–boycotted work and school for two days last week in cities across the country to protest the bill which would've permitted abortions only in cases of rape and incest, or if the mother's health was endangered.
Women seeking abortions could've received prison sentences of up to five years. Doctors found to have assisted in abortion could also have been sentenced to prison.
The Minister for Science and Higher Education, Jaroslaw Gowin said that the protests “caused us to think and taught us humility.”
“I hope it (the comment) was sincere, and if so, it means that the protest has achieved its objective,” said Ania Fromo speaking to TeleSUR, who took part in protests Krakow on Monday.
“The politicians should show empathy and not treat us like numbers, like a heartless society,” Fromo said.
“The government, in general didn´t expect the massive protest in most of the cities in Poland, for the first time they feel vulnerable,” said Monica Larrea, who participated in a smaller protest of nearly 400 people along Krakow's Vistula River.
Larrea said that the it is widely believed that the abortion bill was intended to distract people from unpopular free trade legislation which lawmakers are considering.
The country’s conservative ruling Law and Justice Party, PiS, has faced considerable backlash over its proposed plan with polls showing almost unanimous opposition to the bill, though it did have the endorsement of the Catholic Church.
“The Law and Justice Party uses the religious beliefs, obedience and respect which has a significant part of our society to the church, to achieve political advantages … I hope that this demonstration finally opened the eyes of a significant part of our society,” said Fromo.
Fromo added that those proposing the laws “wanted to go too far, dominate and control the society too much.”
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"The Catholic church has a big impact in political decisions. People were really attached to them. Now people started to think because government decisions are affecting our future generation … Young educated people are starting to change their mind on that, for that reason people start to speak their minds,” said Larrea.