Why an abortion law ruling trigged mass protests in Poland

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is a largely conservative country compared to much of Europe, a place where churches fill up on Sundays and Roman Catholicism is deeply interwoven with the national identity.

So why has a court ruling restricting abortion sparked more than a week of angry protests across the central European nation of 38 million?

Hundreds of thousands have been pouring into the streets for days, defying the risk of contagion amid a spike in COVID-19 infections that have been hitting new records each day, reaching nearly 22,000 on Friday.

With a mass march scheduled for Friday evening in Warsaw, here is a look at some of the key issues.

TOP COURT RULES

The immediate trigger of the protests was an Oct. 22 decision by the constitutional court that had been asked to rule on a provision of a 27-year-old law which allows abortions in cases of severe fetal disorders, including Down syndrome. The latter is one of the main reasons cited for the roughly 1,000 legal terminations performed in Poland each year.

Lawmakers with the ruling Law and Justice party were among those who sought the court's review. They say they want to ensure fetuses with Down syndrome are allowed to be born.

POLAND IN THE BIGGER PICTURE

Klementyna Suchanow, one of the main organizers with the initiative Women’s Strike, the key force behind the protests, said Poland is just one element in a global struggle where democracies face a challenge from internationally connected fundamentalist groups and authoritarian forces.

Whatever happens now in Poland will be crucial for democracy worldwide, says Suchanow, the author of “This is War: Women, Fundamentalists, and the new Middle Ages,” a book on international ultra-conservative groups that want to ban all abortions.

The groups say they are...