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Poland Holds First March for Life and Family In Warsaw

By John Jalsevac

WARSAW, Poland, June 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) -  Poland's first March for Life and Family took place in Warsaw on June 4, 2006.

According to oganizers over 2,000 people, mostly youth and families, took part in the event, including Janusz Korwin-Mikke, the right wing-politician who entered the election for President of Poland last year. Pro-life activists were led through the streets of Warsaw by a marching band, and carried signs, some reading “stop abortion”, "Right to life for everyone," and "Hey, hey, hey, the family is ok!"

The organizing committee is planning on making the March for Life and Family an annual event.

The March for Life and Family comes less than a week before the planned Warsaw Gay Pride event scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, June 10.  The former mayor of Warsaw, come president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, banned the Gay Pride event for two years in a row, in 2004 and 2005. This year, however, Poland’s Constitutional Court ruled that homosexual demonstrators need only inform city officials that a public demonstration would be taking place.

Poland has also received significant pressure from the EU to allow the event. Recently homosexual activists who went to the European Court of Human Rights regarding Kaczynski's decision to refuse the Gay Pride event were able to convince the court to hear the case.

According to participants in the Polish March for Life, the event was almost completely ignored by the mainstream media. Polish pro-life activist Bogna Bialecka contrasted the media vacuum at the well-attended first Polish March for Life against the worldwide coverage given to last year’s aborted attempt at a Gay Pride parade, which boasted approximately 50 participants, and 200 observers. According to Bialecka the comparatively tiny Gay Pride event was reported on the “front pages of all mainstream media in Poland for several weeks.”

Pro-family activists faced a similar challenge last year when media reporting on a "Normal" parade, organized to celebrate heterosexual relationships and traditional marriage, grossly underestimated the numbers present. At the time organizers of the "Normal" parade estimated approximately 2,000 attendees.

Over 90% of Polish people are professing Catholics. Public opinion in Poland is still strongly in favor of traditional Christian social values being represented in law. Abortion in Poland is legal up to 12 weeks of gestation when the pregnancy is a result of a crime, up to 20-24 weeks when the baby is diagnosed with genetic imperfection or disability, or when the mother’s life or health is in danger. Official statistics report about 150-200 of such cases a year.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Warsaw Poland: Gay Pride Parade and Counter Demonstration set for June 10
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06060507.html

 

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