Poland: The extraordinary wave of protests across the country should be protected not attacked

As Poland has been facing an extraordinary wave of protests across the country for the past four weeks, Amnesty International calls on the Polish authorities to uphold the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and put an end to human rights violations documented by national and regional organizations and detailed below. On 22 October 2020, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal issued a ruling further eroding reproductive rights in Poland. This ruling invalidates the constitutionality of access to abortion on the ground of “severe and irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the fetus’ life”. This judgement is the latest manifestation of a coordinated systematic wave of attacks on women’s human rights in Poland. Poland already has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws.