Thousands protest in Poland as abortion law comes into effect

Several thousand people marched through cities acrossPolandon Fridayin the third day of protests against a near-total ban on abortion since it was put into effect by the conservative government earlier this week.

Protesters have defied coronavirus restrictions and sub-zero temperatures to rally after the controversial judgement was given legal force on Wednesday.

Police in riot gear lined major roads of the city, as protesters marched to Aretha Franklin's "Think" and "We Will Rock You" by Queen.

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Some of the participants also wore green handkerchiefs around their necks -- the symbol of abortion-rights activists in Argentina, which legalised abortion last month.

The protests follow a Constitutional Tribunal ruling from October that terminating pregnancies with foetal defects was unconstitutional, eliminating the most frequently used case for legal abortion in the predominantly Catholic nation. The ruling found that abortions in cases of foetal abnormalities were "incompatible" with the constitution.

Predominantly CatholicPolandalready had one of Europe's most restrictive laws on abortion. Itcame into effect late on January 27when it was published in the official gazette.

There are fewer than 2,000 legal abortions every year and women's groups estimate that an additional 200,000 women abort either illegally or abroad.

The government says the ban will halt "eugenic abortions", referring to the termination of foetuses diagnosed with Down's Syndrome, but human rights groups say it will force women to carry non-viable pregnancies.

The ruling first came out in October, but the government had held off on formalising it amid mass protests that quickly adopted broader anti-government slogans.

Under the new rules, abortion can be performed legally only in the case of rape or incest and when the mother's health or life are at risk, puttingPolandoutside the European mainstream. Doctors defying the law face jail.

The country was rocked by weeks of nationwide protests following the October22 court decision. They had quickly morphed into an outpouring of anger against the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government and the powerful Catholic Church.

PiS has rejected opposition accusations that it had influenced the court in its decision, although it is one of the judicial bodies PiS overhauled during reforms that the European Union said have politicised the courts.