Tens of thousands march for ban on abortions in Slovakia Sunday Sep 22,2019

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(EU)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 centre-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.

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.