Abortion rights supporters marched through several cities in Poland on Wednesday after the death of a pregnant woman whose family believes she could have survived if she had had an abortion, Reuters reported.

Protesters chanted “Stop killing us” as they marched through the capital Warsaw to the health ministry headquarters, some carrying placards reading “We want doctors, not missionaries” and “Hell for women”, a common slogan used to convey how a measure affects. carrying an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy.

Poland’s anti-abortion laws, among the strictest in Europe, have sparked mass protests in recent years, and the death of a 33-year-old girl named Dorota in May fueled anti-government sentiment among many liberal Poles ahead of elections in October. or November

In 2021, the nationalist government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki implemented a constitutional court ruling banning abortions in cases of fetal malformations, as conservative politics take root in one of Europe’s most devoutly Catholic countries.

At least five women have died because of the abortion law

Abortion rights activists said there were at least five deaths of pregnant women whose families went to the media blaming their deaths on abortion restrictions.

Last month, Dorota died of septic shock in hospital after her water broke at 20 weeks pregnant. Her husband said no one had informed her about the possibility of inducing a miscarriage, even though the baby had very little chance of survival.

In 2021, a 30-year-old woman named Isabella, 22 weeks pregnant, also died of septic shock after doctors waited for her baby’s heart to stop beating.

• Poland: a pregnant woman died in the hospital. The case has reignited controversy over abortion ban legislation

“We are fed up … we protested when we heard about Izabela’s death almost two years ago and then shouted ‘no more,'” Agnieszka Cherederecka, founder of the Warsaw Women’s Strike movement, told Reuters. She added that protests were held in approximately 80 cities.

Yaroslav Kaczynski talks about “made-up problems”

The leader of the ruling “Law and Justice” (PiS) party, Yaroslav Kaczynski, said that according to the law, women can have abortions if there is a threat to their life or health.

“There is no such problem. It was invented,” he said on Wednesday in response to questions from reporters, accusing critics of “propaganda” politics and creating an “imaginary reality.”

Doctors are reluctant to perform abortions

Critics, however, say that after the Constitutional Court ruling, doctors have been reluctant to terminate pregnancies even in such cases.

A poll conducted by IBRiS for private radio station Zet this week found that more than 70 percent of Poles believe that strict abortion rules pose a potential threat to women’s lives and health.

“I hope the law will change and I won’t be afraid to get pregnant in Poland,” said Joanna Jedrasiak, 36, an economist.

“I would really like to have children and get pregnant, give birth to a healthy child, without the problems that several women had and that we are celebrating here today.”