Polish women participated in a nationwide strike on Monday in protest of a new law that would completely ban abortion. The women wore black [Guardian report] and waved black flags in symbolism of mourning the potential loss of reproductive rights. Under the new law, women could face up to five years in prison for having an abortion, and doctors performing the procedure could similarly face imprisonment. Polish women participated in a similar protest [JURIST report] in April when this legislation was first proposed. Poland currently already has one of the strictest abortion laws in the world, only permitting abortion with serious threat to the life of the mother, severe fetal abnormality, or when the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.

Abortion access and reproductive healthcare [JURIST backgrounder] remain contentious issues worldwide. In July the Irish Parliament defeated a bill [JURIST report] that would have allowed abortion in Ireland where the child would not survive outside of the womb. The High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland in November ruled [judgment] that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws, which only allow abortion when the mother faces the risk of death or serious injury, are a violation of human rights [JURIST report]. According to an Amnesty International report released the same month, El Salvador’s complete ban on abortion negatively affects [JURIST report] not only women and girls, but also their families