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 Abortion laws in Slovakia are relatively liberal compared to those
in countries like Poland or Malta, which have among the strictest
laws in the European Union and often allow them only in cases like
rape.
In Slovakia, on-demand abortions are legal up until 12 weeks of a
pregnancy while abortions for health reasons are allowed until 24
weeks.
Conservative and far-right lawmakers want to allow them only to up
to six or eight weeks of pregnancy or ban them outright, and
parliament starts debating draft laws to restrict abortions this
month.
It is unclear if the proposals will become law since the ruling Smer
- a leftist, socially conservative party - and junior center-right
Slovak National Party in the government, have not said whether they
will back any of them.
Abortions have fallen in the country of 5.4 million to 6,000 last
year, from almost 11,000 a decade ago. A Focus agency opinion poll
this month found 55.5% of people disagreed with restricting
abortions while 34.6% supported the move.
Protesters carrying signs saying "A human is human regardless of
size" and "Who kills an unborn child kills the future of the nation"
marched in the capital on Sunday demanding a total ban on abortions,
including in cases of severe birth defects or rape.
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"The life of every human is invaluable, therefore it needs to be
protected from conception until natural death," one of the protest
organizers, backed by the Catholic church, said on stage.
The organizers estimated turnout at the protest at about 50,000.
The ruling Smer party has led Slovakia nearly non-stop since 2006
and has built its base by lifting social benefits amid years of
economic growth and backing conservative issues.
Ahead of an election next year, the party pledged to back
legislation to ban gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.
Slovak law does not recognize same-sex civil unions.
The most recent official census in 2011 found 62% of the country
identify as Roman Catholics, while 6% are Protestants.
(Reporting By Tatiana Jancarikova, editing by Deepa Babington)
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