BUDAPEST, Hungary, November 1, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Under communist Hungary, abortion became the primary means of birth control. Today, pro-life efforts by the conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán government are bringing abortion numbers down.
The Orbán administration publicly encourages women to give birth. His government helps arrange adoptions, gives aid to families, encourages religious education, and facilitates ethics courses in the public education system.
As a result, from 2010 to 2015, the abortion rate dropped 23 percent, and in the first quarter of 2016 alone abortions fell in excess of another 4 percent, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Human Capacities reported in the newspaper Magyar Hirlap.
In 2011, a pro-life campaign placed posters at Hungary's bus stops with the image of a baby in the womb, saying, “I understand that you are not yet ready for me, but give me up to the adoption agency, LET ME LIVE!”
Orbán was criticized for the pro-life campaign and for using European Union (EU) money to fund it. In June 2011, EU Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding stated, “This campaign goes against European values. We want European funds to be returned as quickly as possible.”
Hungarian Secretary of State for Family and Youth Miklós Soltész defended the campaign, stating, “We want to underline the importance of life.”
The Obama administration and the United Nations have both criticized Orban's conservative government, with the U.N. accusing it of “obstructing” abortion access with “unnecessary waiting periods, hostile counseling, or conscientious objection.”
This year, the UN termed it “gender discrimination.”
The new constitution of Hungary, enacted in 2011, states explicitly that the human life will be protected from the moment of conception.