There are many myths about the legal protection of life in the public space. One of them is the claim that Poland, in comparison to most countries of the world, protects the life of unborn children very well. This was the topic of a press conference of the Ordo Iuris Institute.
INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF LIFE PROTECTION - DOWNLOAD
During the conference the International Classification of Life Protection was presented. Poland is ranked 127th in it. Only 69 countries have laws that are less protective of life in this respect than our country. In 59 countries, the law ensures full protection of human life.
The event was attended by Ordo Iuris experts and representatives of organizations dealing with life protection - Kaja Godek and Beata Domańska from the Foundation for Life and Family and Paweł Kwaśniak from the Centre for Life and Family.
The President of the Institute, attorney Jerzy Kwaśniewski was the first to take the floor.
‘Whenever we start to discuss the subject of defending life, a false message based on emotions appears in response to it. Hence the postulate of a peaceful look at the myths that function in the public space’, he said.
The International Classification of Life Protection was presented by Tymoteusz Zych, PhD. He referred to myths that few countries in the world protect human lives.
‘The whole strategy of the pro-abortion movement is about distribution of untrue information, which is unreflectively repeated by politicians and the media. We want to debunk a few widespread myths’, he said.
‘2/3 of the world's countries protect human lives more than our country. Poland ranks 127th - out of 196 countries - in the list of world legislation according to the criterion of protection of life. It is worth remembering it’, added Zych, PhD.
Anna Świerzewska, the Institute's analyst, referred to the so-called pendulum effect This is a phenomenon which is supposed to be present in countries where laws protecting life have been introduced.
‘The myth of the “pendulum effect” often resurfaces in discussions. It is the key argument for maintaining the so-called abortion compromise. It turns out that in countries where the level of protection of life has been increased in the last few decades, this effect has not materialised. The "pendulum effect" serves as a myth for politicians who want to come out of discussion when they cannot defend their views and as a threat against the introduction of full legal protection of life into the legal order’, noted the representative of the Ordo Iuris Legislative Analyses Centre.
The conference also focused on social initiatives related to the protection of life taking place in Poland. One of them - Marches for Life and Family - was described in detail by Paweł Kwaśniak, President of the Centre for Life and Family.
‘Marches for Life and Family have been held for 13 years. Every year about 400 thousand people take part in them. The last ones took place in 170 cities. There are other initiatives of this kind’, he said.
‘The fact that you can kill a child with Down syndrome denies the right to life to those who were born. I am disappointed with the attitude of politicians who are afraid to pass a law’, said Beata Domańska from the Life and Family Foundation, a mother of seven children, including one suffering from Down syndrome. She thus referred to the situation of families where children with disabilities are raised.
Kaja Godek, President of the Life and Family Foundation, also took the floor. She thanked the Ordo Iuris Institute for its activities related to the protection of life. She presented the situation around the draft law to protect life entitled "Stop abortion".
‘Nearly one million citizens signed the life protection proposal within three months. The feminist project has been "surpassed" four times. The feminists lied that they had gathered 400,000 signatures. Sejm data show that it was at most 200 thousand’, she added.
Kaja Godek also spoke about the tragic effects of maintaining the so-called abortion compromise.
‘The result of blocking the draft law is the death of three children a day. This is the bloody harvest of these omissions. Since submitting this draft law, 877 children have been brutally killed,’ she said.
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The 10th of December marked the 70th anniversary of enacting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Ordo Iuris has long undertaken international activities aimed at protecting the family. These included the Institute's experts' participation in the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting organised in Warsaw by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
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