Opinion
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Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, president of the Polish bishops' conference.

April 7, 2016 (VoiceoftheFamily) — The Polish bishops have united to call for the restoration of complete legal protection for unborn children in Poland. The law currently allows abortion in cases of conception following a criminal act, severe disability or danger to the mother’s life.

In a statement released by the Polish Bishops’ Conference on March 30 2016, the 1050th anniversary of the baptism of Poland’s first Christian king, Mieszko I, the bishops said:

“When it comes to the protection of the life of the unborn, we can’t support the current compromise set out in the 1993 law that allows abortion in three cases.”

They said:

“Each person’s life is protected by the Fifth Commandment, do not kill. So the attitude of Catholics is clear and unchanging.”

They urged all Polish people to “take action to ensure full legal protection of unborn lives” and called for “programmes to ensure concrete help for parents of sick and handicapped children and those conceived through rape.”

Beata Szydło, the Polish Prime Minister, said that the bishops’ statement “has clearly pointed us in the right direction” and that she would support legislation restoring full legal protection to unborn children.

A new law has been drafted by the Ordo Juris Institute, which would make all abortions illegal. “I hope that the politicians will present a united moral front,” said Jerzy Kwaśniewski, a lawyer from Ordo Iuris, “If we want to reestablish order in Poland, we need to start with the most fundamental thing: the protection of human life.” The Polish Constitution provides the opportunity for citizens to introduce bills by means of the “mechanism of popular initiative” if it is backed by the signatures of a group of 100 000 citizens. Activists from the Right to Life Foundation are planning to collect signatures in support of the new bill.

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There are good reasons to hope that the new bill will become law. Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the Law and Justice Party, which has a majority in the Polish Parliament, also supports the proposed legislation and believes that most members of his party will vote for it. There are also pro-life politicians in other political parties such as Kukiz’15 and the Polish People’s Party.

Voice of the Family welcomes this news from Poland, which demonstrates the enormous good that can be achieved when bishops speak out in defense of children and the family. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, Catholic bishops routinely fail to speak out on behalf of the vulnerable and, in too many tragic cases, are complicit in the promotion of the sexual revolution and the culture of death.  Let us hope and pray that bishops worldwide will soon follow the lead of the Polish bishops and work for full legal protection for every unborn child, without exception.