There is growing outrage in Hungary at a new law which opponents say will restrict women's access to safe abortions in the country. More than 1,000 protesters took to the streets and gathered before the national parliament in Budapest to voice their discontent against a law that requires women to hear their unborn child's "fetal heartbeat" before undergoing the procedure.

The new rule amends Hungary's abortion law passed by the parliament in 1992. According to activists, the original legislation was already restrictive, and these recent changes will make it even harder for many women to undergo the procedure.

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Before the new amendment, a woman seeking an abortion needed a letter from a gynecologist confirming that the pregnancy had not exceeded 12 weeks. She then had to visit family services twice, at least three days apart, where she was given counseling on adoption and state benefits for mothers. Only after satisfying all those requirements was she allowed to undergo the procedure.

Activists say there is no sound medical reason why a woman should hear her unborn child's heartbeat before getting an abortion.

"There are no health indications, and there is no medical indication that they should listen to the heartbeat," said Kristina Les, a women's rights advocate for the Patient Association.

Protesters marched to Hungary's Interior Ministry, the government office that issued the new abortion decree. Many carried coat hangers that they planned to hang around the building as a symbol of unsafe abortions. Coat hangers have been used by desperate women in many countries with restrictive laws to induce an abortion. 

Hungary's Civil Rights Union hopes to challenge the constitutionality of the rule because it was issued by decree without passing through a legislative process. The government issued the decree to protect all fetuses from conception. "Nearly two-thirds of Hungarians associate the beginning of a child's life with the first heartbeat," said Hungary's Interior Ministry in a press statement.

Protesters called on Orban's government to provide safe living conditions for women expecting children and to make contraception accessible to everyone. Current rules allow Hungarian women to request an abortion in cases of rape, risks to the mother's health from the pregnancy, a severe disability of the unborn child or in case of a serious personal crisis.

The number of abortions fell to about 22,000 in Hungary last year from over 90,000 in 1990 based on official statistics. Nearby Poland, among Europe's most devoutly Catholic countries, has a near-total ban on abortion.