EU Parliament Attacks Poland for Pro-Life Ruling

By | December 4, 2020

NEW YORK, December 4 (C-Fam) The European Parliament has adopted a resolution directly attacking Poland’s pro-life laws and asserting that abortion is an international right.

The resolution, “On the de facto ban on the right to abortion in Poland,” criticized the Polish Constitutional Court for ruling that eugenic abortion violates the Polish constitution. The resolution also criticized the Polish ruling party, Law and Justice, for the ruling.

The resolution cites UN experts and says that universal access to “sexual and reproductive health and rights” is a fundamental human right. Legal experts in Europe are outraged by the resolution.

Anna Kubacka, a legal analyst for the Ordo Iuris legal think tank in Poland, told the Friday Fax that “any form of pressure” from European Union institutions on abortion was unlawful under the European Union treaty.

Kubacka emphasized that there was no international right to abortion, and that international consensus is against such a right. “The judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal is fully compliant with the Polish Constitution and international law,” she said.

The Polish Constitution protects life from the moment of conception and Polish criminal law punishes abortion in all but one circumstance: eugenic abortion. The ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal earlier this year struck down that only exception.

The resolution violates the “rule of law,” according to an analysis of recent resolutions of the European Parliament by the Centro Studi Livatino, an Italian think tank. “They are evidence of the ideological shipwreck and an ever more aggressive tendency to attack the sovereignty of member states [of the European Union],” the think tank concluded.

The resolution of the European Parliament cites the non-binding opinions of UN committees and UN Agency reports as evidence of an international right to abortion. It also repeats the talking points of the global abortion industry that Poland is a dangerous place for women.

In fact, Poland is a regional leader in maternal health, and its health system is favorably rated compared with neighboring countries. Moreover, women in Poland perform better on several social and economic indicators than most European countries, including Sweden and France.

Polish pro-life lawyer and activist Magdalena Korzekwa-Kaliszuk told the Friday Fax the resolution was “absurd” and a “scandal.” She said the resolution’s description of a government crackdown on “peaceful protests” against the ruling was “completely untrue.”

“Protesters are not peaceful but use physical and verbal violence, disrupt holy Masses and devastate churches,” Korzekwa-Kaliszuk said.

The resolution represents a watershed moment in European politics. Only 33 out of 187 members of the European People’s Party voted against the resolution. A majority of members of the center-right party previously opposed such extreme social policies and an international right to abortion.

“This is a dog chasing its tail, as the fake news and the confusion about abortion in Poland have literally invaded the European Parliament in the last years,” according to Nicola Speranza, Secretary-General of the pro-life and pro-family Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe. His organization has a long history of pro-life and pro-family advocacy at the European Parliament.

Members of the European Parliament who would have previously opposed such a radical resolution merely abstained, Speranza explained. Even parties considered far right, who often talk of the limited competence of EU institutions, abstained.

“This resolution shows how far the European Parliament can be from reality,” he emphasized.

Speranza said that even though it is not binding, the resolution will help the abortion industry “force national debates on issues which are completely outside the limited competences of the EU.”

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