What’s the best thing you love about a democratic government? The freedom it gives, yeah? Of course!
But the Polish government has put into effect a law that prevents this freedom. That is, the freedom to terminate a pregnancy with fetal defects, in essence, an indirect ban on abortion.
The ruling was made since October 22 last year but only got implemented Wednesday 27 due to a massive nationwide protest which had stalled its implementation then.
However, the law permits abortion on two grounds; if the mother’s life is being threatened by the pregnancy and if the pregnancy resulted from a rape or incest.
Still, the Poles are not finding it funny, especially the youths and a small protest had already ensued Wednesday evening after the announcement had been made by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government. One 23-year-old student even remarked, “This idiotic ruling will not prevent abortions". Babe no wan hear o! ?
But looking closely, you can understand the plight of the Poles. They do not mind the ban on abortion, what they’re concerned about is giving birth to children with deformities who only end up being liabilities to their families. Can someone just help me tell them that a healthy lifestyle can fix that problem?
This abortion issue only became an “issue" when the PiS government took over power in 2015. An issue that can make them lose the support of the youths in subsequent elections. The opposition can see this clearly and has not hesitated in its criticism, “No law-abiding government should respect this ruling," Borys Budka, leader of Poland’s largest opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform.
Aside making the two exemptions mentioned above, the tribunal had left open a window for regulations by the parliament in extreme cases. Maresk Suski, a PiS lawmaker, had said on a radio interview, “In cases when the fetus doesn’t have a skull or has no chance to live outside the womb, there should be a choice. We will work on this."
Just thought you should know: Poland is one of Europe’s largest Catholic countries and the rate of abortion had declined over the years even before the ruling as more doctors had declined to perform the procedure on religious grounds. So I don’t think the implementation should come as a shock to them.
The Poles will either have to stick to contraceptives or “zip up", but what do I know sef? ?♀
