In Poland there are tens of thousands of women protesting a near-total ban on abortion. The protests were triggered on October 22nd by Poland’s constitutional court. The court allows abortions in instances of severe fetal abnormalities. An abortion charity in Berlin said it is receiving an increasing number of calls from Polish women after Poland put this ban on terminations. Ula Bertin, who works at that charity said, “We have had a high increase in callers. Three times as many as before, they’re punished twice because the child they were awaiting has turned out to be sick and may not survive, but they’re being forced to deliver. It’s emotional torture”.

Protesters were blocking a street in Poland’s capital. They were demanding that the new minister of Poland should be fired because of some statements made on human rights. When the ruling takes effect, at an unspecified date, abortion will be allowed only for severe fetal abnormalities.

Almost 430,000 people were protesting. Though there were thousands of people in the streets, Sylwester Marczak, the spokesman of Warsaw Police headquarters, said “it was a very peaceful protest.” To support these protests a new hashtag has been made, “#thisiswar.”

Being pro-choice is believing that everyone has the basic human right to decide when and if they want to have children. Pro-choice is telling people that you believe it’s okay for anyone to have the ability to choose abortion as an option, even if you wouldn’t choose abortion for yourself. People who oppose abortion call themselves pro-life. They believe that having an abortion is unjust and wrong.

You have your own opinion on this situation, but the most important thing to remember is that even if your pro-choice or pro-life you still have to respect the other side; though you may not agree with it.