Thousands of Hungarians demonstrated in Budapest on Wednesday night against a recent decree requiring pregnant women to face the “vital functions” of the fetus before having an abortion, AFP journalists found.

A crowd of about 3,000 people, mostly women, gathered outside parliament to defend the “fundamental right to decide whether or not to have a child,” said Monika Karvali, a 43-year-old secretary.

“And if the circumstances are different (violence, ill-treatment…), then don’t hold us accountable, don’t punish us!” she said.

Cleo Nitrai, a 28-year-old biologist, says she “wants kids,” but when will she choose. “Everything is so uncertain with the war, the inflation, the energy crisis,” she says.

From the middle of September, women who wish to have an abortion will have to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus according to a new form that the obstetrician fills out before the procedure.

The measure was condemned by posters displayed on Wednesday: “What about my heartbeat? No one cares”, “Take care of your own uterus” or “My vagina, my decision”.

In this central European country, a member of the European Union (EU), abortion has been legal since the 1950s, in most cases before the 12th week of pregnancy.

But ultra-conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been in power since 2010, is increasing the number of promulgated measures.

Since the entry into force of the new constitution at the beginning of 2012, Hungary has protected the “life of the fetus from conception”.

When the new decree was announced, Amnesty International condemned it as a “worrying step backwards” that would make access to abortion more difficult and “further traumatize women who are already in a difficult situation”.