Groups gathered to protest in the heart of the city in response to Poland’s top court ruling an almost total ban on pregnancy terminations in the country
By: Jeevan Bains
Photograph: Jeevan Bains
Hundreds of people in Aberdeen joined cities across the world on Wed (28.10.20), including Gdansk and Krakow, to stand in solidarity with Polish women’s abortion rights, with the organizers saying the protest ‘exceeded our expectations’.
Protestors gathered in Castlegate, Aberdeen in a sea of coat hangers and banners with slogans reading ‘I wish I could abort my government’ and ‘My Body, My Choice’.
The Gaudie spoke to one of the organisers of the protest, Bogna Ekowska, who explained that: ‘We wanted to stand in solidarity with Polish women and men and show them that even though we are abroad, we deeply care about what is happening in Poland and we won’t be silent... we organized this protest so that people could unite, feel the sense of community and empowerment that comes with it.’
Abortion rights protest - Photograph: Jeevan Bains
She continued: ‘It is important because I am a woman and I am fed up with my government denying us fundamental rights, deceiving us, and not taking into consideration what the majority of the population wants. A few political members, without any debate, in the midst of the pandemic, made a decision to subject women and their families to inconceivable suffering.’
This comes in response to Poland’s top court tightening its abortion criteria to outlaw terminations due to fetal defects. This change would only allow terminations in the cases of rape, incest or in the protection of the mother’s life.
The Gaudie spoke to a young Polish woman taking part in the protest, who said that she is a ‘person who believes [in God], but for medical implications, it is the choice of the parents and the doctors, not politicians.’
Photograph: Jeevan Bains
