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Michał Dworczyk, the head of the Polish Prime Minister’s Office.Kancelaria Premiera / YOUTUBE

WARSAW, Poland, November 3, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) ―  Poland’s government has delayed the publication of a court decision that banned the abortion of sick and disabled unborn babies. As a result, Polish doctors may still abort such children. 

This morning Michał Dworczyk, the head of the Polish Prime Minister’s Office, indicated that the government was “taking some time” to decide what to do about the judgement. The delay follows two weeks of massive demonstrations that first broke out after the Constitutional Tribunal’s October 22 ruling banning eugenic abortion.

“There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation that is difficult and stirs high emotions,” Dworczyk said.

However, the very legality of such a move is in question. Journalist Krystian Kratiuk of Polonia Christiana told LifeSiteNews that the decision not to publish the ruling is “a scandal,” but that only faithful Catholics and other pro-lifers will object.

“It is absolutely illegal,” Kratiuk said. 

“The right-wing media are defending [the government’s] power and everything they do, but the left-wing media are happy that the sentence was not published for ideological reasons,” he continued.  

“Therefore, only a handful of Catholics and pro-lifers protest.”  

Kratiuk added that the Sejm (Polish parliament) will not immediately be addressing President Andrzej Duda’s “compromise bill” because, due to the coronavirus, the members will not meet for another two weeks. Last Friday, Duda proposed a bill that would permit the abortion of children with fatal illnesses, likely to die before or soon after birth, but spare the lives of children with Down Syndromes and other disabilities. 

“So we have a stalemate, and the children who suffer are defenceless and can still be killed with impunity according to the law,” Kratiuk said. 

Veteran pro-life leader Kaja Godek told LifeSiteNews that by not publishing the Constitutional Tribunal’s decison, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has broken the law.

“None of the laws in Poland allow for delays in publication of the Tribunal rulings,” Godek stated via email. 

“No political reasons can keep Mr. Morawiecki from placing the ruling in the Journal of Laws,” she continued.  

“As long as he delays the publication, he is responsible for the death of three children a day. He has got blood on his hands.”

Godek added that Poles will continue to defend life in spite of this new obstacles, 

“We are not done until every child in the womb is safe,” she said. 

According to Poland’s 1996 abortion law, abortion is permitted only when the mother’s health or life is endangered by the pregnancy, when the unborn child was conceived through a criminal act, and when the unborn child has a “severe” illness or handicap. There are approximately 1,100 legal abortions in Poland a year. 

To ask the Polish government to respect the Tribunal’s decision for life, please contact:

Sz. P. Jarosław Kaczyński
Chairman, Law and Justice Party
Biuro Poselskie
al. Jerozolimskie 125/127
02-017 Warszawa
POLAND

tel. +48 (22) 622-91-55

e-mail: [email protected]