Every life is holy
Czeslaw Ryszka
This event has infuriated millions in Poland. As the media reported after ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ two hospitals in Lublin and one hospital in Warsaw refused to abort the pregnancy of a 14 year old girl, who became pregnant as the result of a rape. As ‘Gazeta’ reported the abortion could not be made ‘because of brutal pressure of some priest and his court.’ The comments and appeals to kill the unborn child in ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ were horrifying. On 7 June it wrote, ‘In Poland a woman can have a legal abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy in case of a rape. Agata is in the tenth or eleventh week. When the rape of confirmed it is enough to conduct the abortion but the aggrieved party must express her decision in writing.’ The report of 9 June said, ‘In Poland a woman can have a legal abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy when her pregnancy results from ‘criminal’ action. Agata is in the tenth or 11th week of pregnancy.’ On 10th June it was written, ‘The law says that when pregnancy results from a sex act with an underage boy, which means a prohibited deed, it can be aborted. The teenager is in the 11th week and abortion in Poland can be made until the 12th week... A few days are left to make the choice and one should hope that it can be made in silence. The decision is to be made by Agata and her relatives. There are still legal foundations to make an abortion if Agata and her mother decide so.’ These are just a few sentences from numerous press reports concerning this matter. I have read nowhere that Agata had double misfortune: first she was raped and secondly, if she aborted her child she would kill her innocent child. No journalist mentioned psychological consequences of both facts: both the rape and the abortion will destroy the girl’s psyche for her whole life. You can suppose that bearing a child, which is the fruit of a rape will not give her full joy of motherhood and can even make the mother’s life a nightmare. What solution should be chosen? A Christian should not be faced with a dilemma in such a situation; there is only one answer: every life is holy. But it will be in vain to look for such a solution in the texts of the journalists and the statements of the leading Polish feminists. The journalists made the misfortune of rape sensational news; they followed every step of the girl and her mother. The underage mother was indirectly made to abort her child. The hospitals and doctors were accused of neglect of their statutory actions. The journalists did not show any gesture of solidarity and help that would lead to another solution than abortion (numerous families would be ready to adopt the child if the mother wanted to). But it turned out that the presented facts were one big lie of the press. As ‘Rzeczpospolita’ reported it was not a rape but the fact was that Agata had conceived with her peer. And it was not her that wanted to abort the child but it was her mother. The hospitals were right to refuse conducting abortion since Agata herself did not want to do it. So how many manipulations did the media make to hammer Catholics for their ignorance - the media aimed that in their comments? In a word, it was a terrifying story about an underage mother who wanted to bear her child and a story about exhorting to a criminal action in the media - one cannot call this antagonizing against life in other terms. Is it not an obligatory case for the public persecutor’s office? Is the act of hounding the girl, urging her to have the abortion, not a crime? By the way, the pro-abortion organisations will resort to any argument, even a false one, to show that the Polish law concerning protection of life is allegedly too restrictive. It is true that in the light of the binding law a pregnancy resulting from a rape can be aborted and a hospital should do that. But is such a law fair? I want to remind you that a rapist will be sent for the disgraceful deed to prison for many years whereas the human being conceived in rape, the one that has not committed any crime, is murdered! This is the background of the international initiative concerning a moratorium (adjournment, suspension) on abortion directed to the United Nations, i.e. to the organisation that protects human rights in the world. Is killing the unborn not the most drastic infringement of human rights? The Weekly ‘Niedziela’ was the first to launch an appeal to the Polish MPs and senators, asking them to pass a resolution, recommending the government of the Republic of Poland to propose a proper resolution to the UN General Assembly. At present, the Parliamentary Club of Law and Justice has prepared a project of a resolution, which states that the practice and propaganda of the so-called abortion, which means killing unborn children, constitutes a drastic infringement of human rights and the legislation and politics of states should mould public opinion in the spirit of protection and respect for human life since conception. The resolution of Law and Justice Party calls the Polish government to undertake actions that will make the public opinion of the country and of the world sensitive to the need to protect human life from conception to natural death. Currently, the leaders of Law and Justice will decide what to do with the resolution. Mr Stanislaw Zajac, MP from the region of Podkarpacie and a member of the team that works on the document is an optimist. In his opinion there should not be any problems to achieve the main aim - to force the idea of moratorium at the United Nations.
"Niedziela" 25/2008