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Poland: Anti-Abortionists Protest Plans To Liberalize Abortion Law


Warsaw, 29 August 1996 (RFE/RL) - About 2,000 anti-abortion protestors today rallied before the Polish parliament to protest a plan to liberalize the country's abortion law.

The protestors carried signs that read "No to return of Stalinist bill allowing for killing of Polish children."

The Sejm plans to vote tomorrow on a proposal to relax the country's strict legal ban on abortions, which was introduced in 1993 at the urging of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), the main party in the Polish coalition government, says the law must be liberalized so women who are in difficult financial situations or who want an abortion for social reasons, can do so legally.

Current rules allow abortions only in cases where the mother's health is threatened, if she has been raped or if the child would be born incurably ill.
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