As part of the international campaign of 16 days of activism against violence against women civil society in Slovakia gathers at a protest and march across Bratislava to voice its demands and protest against structural gender based violence, especially any steps limiting access to abortion. The march is called Nebudeme ticho! (We won´t keep quiet!) and is organised by ASTRA member Moznost Volby, ASPEKT, Bratislava bez náckov, Povstanie pokračuje. 

ASTRA solidarity statement with Slovakia is availble online HERE.

Background information:

In May 2018, the far-right political party in the Parliament proposed an amendment to the abortion law. According to the new law, abortion would be accessible only in three cases: if woman´s life is in danger; if pregnancy was a result of crime and in cases of foetal damage. Only women with Slovak citizenship would be allowed to get abortion in Slovakia under the proposed law. The amendment was supported by the Catholic Church and some conservative politicians. The law did not get a second reading but not because of the content but because of the fascist political party itself. Other parties did not want to be associated with this group. However, as a result of this discussion an agreement among conservative politicians came about – they promised to prepare a new law, the one that would connect politicians in the coalition and opposition in the Parliament. In September, there was another law put forward – the content and consequences would be the same as in the first case, just explanation and language of the law had been changed. The discourse moved from creating an image of “irresponsible women who go to abortion to protect their career and decadent lifestyle” to the concept of “protection” – conservative politicians were about to protect women from abortions. The negative consequences for women, however, would be the same, language was the only shift. In both cases, the inspiration for them was the Polish abortion law that was often discussed in the media. The second draft law did not make it to the first reading in the Parliament because of technical details (there must be 6 months-period between the readings of the two laws regarding the same issue). This situation means that in February/March 2019 the period of 6 months will be over and a new draft law can be expected.