In Poland, the draft citizen’s bill banning recourse to abortion except when the mother’s life is in danger, was rejected on Wednesday by the Commission for Justice and Human Rights, and again during Thursday’s session by 352 votes to 58 (18 abstentions).
Discussions were “extremely heated” on this topic. Demonstrations took place at the beginning of the week. The European Parliament “also received the documentation on Wednesday”: Euro MPs “loudly criticised the bill”. However, a PiS (Legal and Justice Party) MP responded that “this issue did not fall within the remit of the European Union”. Mariusz Dzierzawski, who is in favour of the draft bill, pointed out that “all humans have the right to life”, and denounced the PiS MPs who “insult their own electorate (…), the 500,000 persons who signed the draft bill”.
The President of the Legal and Justice Party (PiS) and Prime Minister, Beata Szydlo, explained their change of opinion when confronted with this bill: “We have the greatest respect for the people who signed the draft bill but, looking at the social situation, we can see that it (the proposal) would culminate in a process where the outcome would be contrary to the aims”. The Government has outlined the next three steps: “The creation, before the end of the year, of a program to support families and women who decide to raise disabled children following challenging births, the introduction in early 2017 of benefits for these individuals and an ‘extensive information campaign to defend life’ “.
AFP (6/10/2016) – Photo : Pixabay