Position of the Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life before a study of the Extraordinary Commission on the draft law amending the law – Criminal Code (prints 176 and 477), scheduled for the parliamentary gathering on 11-12 July 2024
The Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life, recognising the right of all man to birth and life guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, regardless of age, gender, race or wellness condition, powerfully opposes the legalization of prenatal infanticide in our homeland in any form, including the decriminalisation of abortion and early-mortar trade.
The Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life calls on all MPs and Members of the Republic of Poland, regardless of their organization or club affiliation, to reject all projects undertaken, which aim to increase the availability of abortion, regardless of the proposed scope and limitations formulated in individual projects.
We remind you that the 3rd Way intends to restore, contested by the Constitutional Court, the anticipation of killing unborn children suspected of having severe illness or disability, and the Left and Civic Coalition request the alleged right to abortion “on demand” up to 12 weeks of the child's life and abortion with eugenic conditions up to 6 months of the child's life. According to the designs of the Left and KO, in the event of a suspected leittal defect, the kid could be killed for delivery. The proposed draft laws do not only agree with the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland and stay contrary to the Polish state's rational policy, especially the rational social policy aimed at overcoming the demographic disaster of the state, but are besides an attack on the fundamental values of civilization, arising straight from natural law and establish a dangerous eugenic mentality in Polish society.
In the post-war past of Poland there was already a Sejm who legalized abortion. This happened on 27 April 1956, at a time erstwhile the legislature did not represent the will of Poles, but acted in the interest and on behalf of the communist empire – the russian Union. This decision was widely perceived as a betrayal of the national interest and weakening of the Polish state. Therefore, it is not amazing that 1 of the most crucial demands of the solidarity opposition and at the same time the achievements of the political transformation of 1989 was to cancel the 1956 Act and replace it with a mostly life-saving Act of 7 January 1993 on household planning, protection of the human fetus and the conditions for abortion.
Despite the changes and modifications made over the years, the Act has become a hallmark of Polish democracy and an inspiration for defenders of life in the world. It was Poland that was the first country to restrict access to abortion in democratic conditions and to adopt a law protecting life, which has brought much good over the past years, as evidenced by the yearly reports of the Council of Ministers in the Sejm.
Our deep opposition and outrage is caused by the false communicative that it is Polish women who request the right to abortion. Presenting the position of a narrow group of extremist feminists as the voice of Polish women is simply a usurpation and a serious abuse. It is besides an insult to millions of Poles who find their calling in motherhood and are aware that the law protecting the lives of unborn children besides protects their dignity and health, both physical and mental, contributing to expanding respect for their function in society.
According to a CBOS survey "The relation of Poles to abortion 2023" only 18 percent of Poles support abortion "on request". According to a survey conducted in March 2024 by United Surveys, this is 24.7%. This is simply a crucial minority, but inactive a minority.
Each of the projects discussed violates the fundamental law, mainly Article 38, and no of them will gain the support of president Andrzej Duda. We so have the right to believe that the aim of the projects may be to distract the public and make further waves of unrest, which are peculiarly dangerous in the current global situation.
Wojciech Zięba
President of the Polish Life Defenders Association
Kraków, July 10, 2024.
