Despite 2020 being a trying year for all, woman have found their voices in the abortion debate, and the taboo subject can finally be debated on a national level

Pat Kenny speaks to Mara Clarke, Founder of The Abortion Support Network and hears how her work has changed since Ireland’s new legislation was introduced

Calls to a Polish abortion support hotline have increased more than five-fold since a court imposed a near-total ban on terminations in October, organisers of the service said on Thursday, as protests over the ruling continue.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10 December 2020, Warsaw   Abortion Without Borders helps more than 5,000 people in Poland in first year; celebrates with billboards advertising their service in Warsaw   The Abortion Without Borders initiative has helped more than 5,000 people in Poland since its launch one year ago. The group has provided pregnancy options…

The Prime Minister and President are suggesting legal compromises, but campaigners will not concede to anything less than access to safe abortions on demand and are planning more demonstrations

In a decision that has torn the country apart, Poland’s top court has declared war on women’s rights, banning almost all abortions. So how did this happen and what’s being done about it?

Hospitals in Poland have been turning away women seeking abortions even though a court ruling that has instituted a near-total ban on terminations has not yet taken effect.

Now, activists around the world are showing solidarity with those in Poland, sharing photos of themselves alongside the hashtags, #PiekloKobiet (‘Hell of women’), #AborcjaBezGranic (‘Abortion without borders’), and #WyrokNaKobiety (‘Sentence on women’).

Enormous protests are taking place across Poland in response to a new ruling striking down part of the 1993 abortion law – something that effectively amounts to a legal ban in a country that already took a very restrictive approach to abortion.

Protests continued over the weekend with anger over a ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Court more than a week ago which tightened the country’s already restrictive laws on abortion.