The EP resolution defaming Poland, adopted on Poland’s Independence Day

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· On 11 November, the European Parliament adopted a resolution exceeding its competences and violating the good name of Poland.

· The resolution repeats numerous lies about Poland, including the alleged existence of ‘LGBT-free zones’ or the alleged introduction of law that is to endanger women’s lives.

· The Members of the European Parliament called on Poland to legalise abortion, which they illegally described as a ‘human right’, and they considered lack of free access to it as a violation of the rule of law.

· They also adopted an amendment to the resolution concerning the alleged relationship between the death of a pregnant woman in Pszczyna and the judgement of the Constitutional Court on the eugenic abortion.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (ENGLISH VERSION) – LINK

COMMENTARY TO THE RESOLUTION (POLISH VERSION) – LINK

COMMENTARY TO THE RESOLUTION (ENGLISH VERSION) – LINK

The MEPs adopted the resolution by a majority of 373 votes ‘for’, with 125 ‘against’ (and 55 abstained). At the same time, the alternative draft resolution was rejected. According to it, abortion is not and has never been a human right, the health policy falls within the exclusive competence of the Member States while the necessity to protect life arises from binding international law.

Instead the MEPs adopted a project which repeats numerous lies about Poland, including the alleged existence of ‘LGBT-free zones’ or the introduction of the alleged law endangering women’s lives. The EP also called on Poland once again to legalise abortion, which it illegally describes as a ‘human right’, and it considers lack of free access to the possibility to kill children by abortion as a violation of the rule of law. The MEPs also adopted an amendment to the resolution concerning the alleged relationship between the judgement of the Constitutional Tribunal prohibiting the performance of eugenic abortion and the death of a 30-year-old mother and her unborn child, which took place in the hospital in Pszczyna in September.

In its resolution, the EP adopted a narrative reproduced by the media and organisations lobbying for access to abortion, despite a clear indication by the representative of the family of the deceased that the Court’s judgement did not affect the situation as well as numerous opinions from the medical and legal environment confirming it. Moreover, there is still a clear premise in Polish law for saving the mother’s life and health, which may result in the death of the conceived child. The pro-abortion environment is trying to use the tragedy of the family from Pszczyna in an instrumental way to replicate the pattern that occurred in Ireland, where a pregnant mother also died as a result of a medical error. However, despite the fact that this error was clearly proven, massive disinformation has led to legal changes significantly limiting the protection of life. In its resolution, the EP stated that ‘doctors did not perform the life-saving abortion because they were waiting for the death of the foetus due to restrictions concerning legal abortion and their deterrent impact on doctors in Poland’ (compare letter J of the resolution). The statement that the Polish law prevents doctors from saving the mother’s life and health when at risk is clearly untrue. Furthermore, by its resolution the EP supports the view that the explanation of the reasons for the tragedy in Pszczyna was unnecessary. The European Parliament arbitrarily excludes by its position any fault on the part of people responsible for decisions concerning the patient and ignores the fact that the investigation in this case is ongoing.

‘It is worth noting that although the abortion lobby is exceptionally strongly represented in this term of the European Parliament, further resolutions containing demands for legalisation of abortion on request and violating the exclusive competences of the Member States to determine their health policy are gradually losing support. The extent of the opposition to the increasing ideological commitment of the European Parliament was most visible during the vote on the so-called Matić report in June. In yesterday’s vote, the resolution condemning Poland for fictitious violations of human rights and respect for the provisions of the Polish Constitution gained much fewer votes in favour, i.e. 373, than an almost identical text adopted one year ago, for which as many as 455 representatives of the European Parliament had voted. Taking into account the specificity of the EU, this is a very promising trend,’ said Anna Kubacka from the Ordo Iuris Centre for International Law.

Before the vote on the resolution on the ‘first anniversary of the actual prohibition of abortion in Poland’, the Ordo Iuris Institute sent a memorandum to the MEPs, which indicates legal grounds obliging states to protect life as well as presents the actual scope of the judgement of the Constitutional Tribunal of 22 October 2020 and its impact on the protection of life and health of both the mother and the child. The document also points out that abortion is not a human right and denies the false accusations against Poland included in the motion for the resolution.

The MEPs also received from the Institute a publication containing a comprehensive commentary to the resolution adopted one year ago by the EP on the alleged ‘actual prohibition of abortion in Poland’. This commentary explains the errors and denies false information contained in the EP resolution, in a substantive manner, point by point.