
Protesters in Poland have defied the coronavirus lockdown to oppose a proposal that would almost completely ban abortion.
Public gatherings are banned, but videos show people in the streets of Warsaw and Poznan standing around 2m apart and holding placards.
Others hung posters on bikes or posted videos online in a “virtual protest”.
Poland’s abortion laws are among the strictest in Europe – it is only allowed in cases of rape or incest, if the mother’s life is at risk, or if the foetus is seriously compromised.
The draft legislation would ban terminations of a foetus if tests show it to be irreversibly damaged.
Currently that accounts for around 98% of legal abortions in the country.
Another bill up for debate would criminalise “the promotion of underage sex”, which women’s rights groups say in effect bans sex education in schools.
It states that people who encourage anyone under the age of 18 to have sex could face a maximum three years in prison.
Activists fear that conservative politicians could take advantage of the coronavirus lockdown preventing opponents from organising large street protests.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on politicians to reject the bills, which were first put forward in 2016 by the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party.
But huge street protests in which people wore black caused the government to withdraw the proposals.