Thousands of people protested against abortion in Prague yesterday. In the center of the city, the “National March for Life” was faced with a counter-demonstration in which about two hundred people participated, according to the CTK news agency. Both sides fought verbal battles, but there were no physical fights, so the police did not need to intervene.
Catholic Archbishop of Prague mobilized
Participants in the march organized by the “Movement for Life” carried Czech flags and banners with inscriptions such as “A child always means hope” or “We will protect life from the beginning”. As the most prominent supporter of the march, the Catholic Archbishop of Prague, Dominik Duka, celebrated a morning mass in which he asked to participate.
The head of the Pirate Party, Regional Minister Ivan Bartos, also participated in the smaller but more colorful counter-demonstration. Women held banners with inscriptions critical of the church.
Cardinal Duka recently caused public outrage when he appeared to put the rapes in the Ukraine war into perspective. He explained that while they should be convicted, rapist soldiers can also be seen as victims as they were under stress during the war. The Catholic Church’s strict ban on abortion, which carries the penalty of immediate excommunication, also obliges rape victims to bring to term the children conceived by their tormentors.