Activists open abortion center in front of Polish parliament on Women’s Day

WARSAW, Poland — Polish abortion rights activists opened a center across from the parliament building in Warsaw on Saturday where women can go to have abortions with pills, either alone or with other women.

Opening the center on International Women’s Day across from the legislature was a symbolic challenge to authorities in the traditionally Roman Catholic nation, which has one of Europe’s most restrictive laws.

A small but loud group of protesters stood outside the center as activists gathered inside for its inauguration. The activists had private security guards, while police also separated the protesters from those inside.

Activists with the group Abortion Dream Team say it is the first stationary abortion center in Poland. It is meant to offer support to women who prefer not to have abortions alone in their bathrooms at home.

They also say they want to put pressure on politicians and to destigmatize abortion in a society where they say one in four women have had the procedure but it remains a taboo topic.

The country’s centrist prime minister, Donald Tusk, came to power in an election in 2023 in which he vowed to liberalize the country’s abortion law. But the coalition he leads spans a broad ideological divide, with lawmakers on the left who want to legalize abortion and conservatives strongly opposed.

Last year he acknowledged that he lacks the backing in parliament to change the law. Allowing abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy had been one of his campaign promises.