Poles protest on anniversary of ruling restricting abortion

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Protests are being held in Warsaw and other Polish cities to mark the one-year anniversary of a constitutional court ruling that severely restricted abortion rights in the country. In last October’s ruling, the court declared that abortion due to fetal abnormalities — even in the case of fetuses so badly damaged they would die at birth — is not constitutional. In practice, it meant a near total ban on abortion in the central European nation. The only legal abortions can now be performed in cases of rape or incest or if the woman’s life is at risk. The protests were organized by Women’s Strike, an organization struggling to achieve reproductive freedom for women. They were planned in 20 cities.