Abortion issue heats up in Poland

Czarny-Bialy Politics!

I had to facilitate an interesting discussion earlier today in an (F.C.E.) English class about the issue of abortion. The topic arose when one of the students mentioned that there had been marches in Warsaw yesterday - one 'pro-life' and the other 'pro-choice'. I find these terms unhelpfully black and white though as I know a lot of people who are pro-choice but also ethically against abortion. The flip side of the coin is that those who marched on yesterday's 'pro-life' march were the same group of people who attacked journalists outside Wielgus's now infamous dethroning ceremony from the heights of the Polish episcopacy two months ago. They are also firmly pro-Death Penalty - thus they can hardly be labelled adherents of a consistent life ethic.

Poland's Moral Conundrum

The differing groups were trying to publically demonstrate their opinion about the proposed amendments to Section 38 of the Polish Constitution, which proposes to protect the life of the unborn from conception to natural death. Currently Poland has one of strictest abortion laws in Europe, only allowing termination of a pregnancy in three situations:

a)rape or incest
b)fetal malformation
c)severe threat to the health of the mother

The 'pro-lifers' (unborn life, that is) march was organised by the ultra right-wing and quasi-fascistic League of Polish Families, whose head honcho Roman Giertych is Minister for Education, and the Catholic radio station Radio Maryja whose Redemptorist media mogul director Fr. Rydzyk is a notorious anti-semite and xenophobe.
"I am for life," Miroslawa Kledzinska told AP. "God gives life and only He has the right to take life away."
A young boy was asked why he came on the march, and honestly replying to the reporter said: "to get a day off school".
About 700 people joined the pro-choice march in front of the presidential palace.

What do Poles think

The large majority on yesterdays pro-amendment manifestation (1,800 people according to police stats., 4,000 according to right-wing press) belonged to two interesting groups of Polish people: one nicknamed mohery-berety due to their almost uniform wearing of similar headwear which makes their conservative religious viewpoints nationally identifiable; the other section a younger generation of right-wing Catholics aligned to the quasi-fascist LPR party and their violently unegalitarian youth-wing, All Polish Youth.

Polska Grupa Badawcza found in a recent opinion poll that a majority of Poles support the proposed amendment to the Polish Constitution which would guarantee the natural cycle 'from conception to the grave' to be protected for every citizen.
52.4% support the law that would ban abortion and euthanasia in all cases, 33.3% are opposed to it and 14.3% are sitting on the fence.

Political Showdown

The issue is due to come to a head in mid-April when parliamentary voting takes place to determine whether to constitution should be changed in accordance with the conservative President Lech Kaczyinki's new proposal which is similar to the strict LPR one previously addressed. A two-thirds majority is required and according to the Associated Press there is little chance of it being reached as the Civic Platform neo-liberals are against any changes. So are the conservatives just flexing their muscles to shore up support from their members and advocates to pour onto the streets, distracting attention from their otherwise increasingly unpopular policies?

Tysiac vs. Poland

The whole debate has sprung from the recent European Court of Human Rights decision that Poland should compensate Alicja Tysiac for not allowing her to have an abortion when it was medically known her health (sight) was in danger. A pro-choice friend of mine has written an interesting hard-hitting piece which is a challenge to those who feel abortion is murder. Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day, who had an abortion before converting to Catholicism, labelled birth control and abortion as a from of genocide.

A divided public requires more listening

Public opinion on abortion remains divided on all continents where surveys have been staged. Attitudes toward abortion in 10 European countries were researched two years ago where polltakers were questioned whether they agreed with the statement, "If a woman doesn't want children, she should be allowed to have an abortion". The highest level of approval was 81% in the Czech Republic and the highest level of disapproval was 48% in Poland.

It is an issue which will be eternally divisive, but minimally men should be thinking about their responsibilities rather than packing up and pissing off isolating the woman; we should all be thinking more about how to support women or men to financially stay at home to raise their children if that is their choice; the judgemental and hate-filled language from the 'pro-life movement' labelling women who have abortions as murderers is not helpful - surely compassion is the quintessential ingredient for a person of faith to hold in their heart, whether they agree or disagree with the persons act; and moreover, the notion of there being any argument for 'justified hoimicide' of abortion doctors, as advocated by one of my students is so completely antithetical to rationality and morality that it should be tackled when ever it rears its' ugly head.

Listening to a person with an opposing political viewpoint is a hard thing to do. Yet, if any progress is to be made on such contentious issues everyones heart needs to be open to hearing the stories of women who have both regretted and not regretted their choice to have an abortion. And before we condemn pro-choice women and doctors we should put try to imagine the difficult position of women who have experienced rape or incest, or who face potentially fatal health consequences for themselves, or who hear the tragic news that their child will be severely and maybe fatally handicapped. Until such time as men in particular can begin to empathise with many women's dilemmas, we can never expect to be seriously listened to at the debating table on abortion. That is despite the fact that the vast majority who make the laws about abortion in nearly all nation-states are predominantly men.