The situation of women in Poland continues to deteriorate – in recent months we have witnessed a real attempt to further restrict the current law on abortion, which already made it difficult to obtain a legal procedure. The “Stop Abortion” civic committee succeeded in submitting a draft law introducing a complete ban on abortion and a new category into the criminal code – “prenatal murder”, which will introduce a penalty of 3–5 years in prison for women, doctors and anyone helping a woman to have an abortion. The group, supported by the Ordo Iuris, a conservative, anti-choice organization, had already collected the needed 100,000 signatures under its draft law, thereby securing its reading and debate in the Polish Parliament, possibly already in July or early autumn.The social movement among Polish society which arose as a response to the current political climate resulted in several civil society initiatives and a rise of awareness in society and growth of public debate around issues such as equal pay, access to health services (especially reproductive health), and effective enforcement of the law and justice for domestic violence survivors.This Saturday, 18 June, the Women’s Dignity March (Facebook event) is taking place in Warsaw. The protest is organized by a “group of ordinary Polish women” who in a spontaneous reaction to the proposal to introduce a total ban on abortion on 1 April 2016 decided to organise a protest. The group does not have politicians standing behind them and they are not members of feminist organisations. “We work in the film industry, in the corpo-world or are self-employed. We decided we can use our energy and potential to organise a march. On 18th of June, in Warsaw we will march with the slogan “Women’s rights are human rights” to show that we will not allow our rights be violated. This is the first step in a long struggle that awaits us.”What does the Women’s Dignity March wish to achieve?RESPECT for our dignity and bodily integrityRIGHT to privacy, health and life protectionPUNISHMENT for perpetrators of physical and psychological domestic violenceRESTORATION of FULL REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTSEFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT of ALIMONY PAYMENTSJUST PUNISHMENTS for rapistsSEXUALITY EDUCATION for us and our childrenACCESS to the newest medical discoveriesTHE RIGHT TO SAFE TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY under the lawEQUALITY and respect for women’s DIGNITY!See message from the organizers with background information HERE.If you wish to show your support please send a photo of yourself with #MarszGodnosci, #DignityMarch and/or #SolidarityWithPolishWomen to federa@astra.org.plSOURCE: Astra Network, 15 June 2016