FRIDAY FAX

December 24, 2004
Volume 8, Number 1

Human Rights Activists Reject UN Call for Legalized Abortion in Poland

The government of Poland is actively assessing its domestic laws on
abortion and other social issues. An influential UN committee has
intervened in the process by issuing a report calling on Poland to
liberalize its laws. The report issued by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights
Committee expresses "deep concern about restrictive abortion laws in
Poland" and tells Poland that it "should liberalize its legislation and
practice on abortion."

The report was released just as the Polish government prepares to
consider draft legislation that would loosen current restrictions on
abortion. In an unusually explicit attempt to influence national
lawmaking, the report directs Poland that "[t]hese recommendations should
be taken into account when the draft Law on Parental Awareness is
discussed in Parliament."

The report, which is a periodic review of Poland's compliance with the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), does not
mention that it is purely recommendatory and has no legal force according
to that treaty. The ICCPR is one of the two major human rights treaties
adopted in 1966 to implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
What is most troubling to human rights activists is that the treaty makes
no mention of abortion yet is increasingly used by the UN committee to
pressure changes in abortion laws. Not only does the treaty make no
mention of abortion it says explicitly that "Every human being has the
inherent right to life."

Human rights worker Ewa Kowalevski, Director of the Poland-based Human
Life International Europe, says that with this report, "A committee of the
UN has officially said that abortion is a human right according to
international law. Where is this right? Show me this right!" She cautions
that the report poses a "real danger" as it exerts pressure on Polish
leaders. The report, she says, is a warning sign to the rest of the world.
"It is against our sovereignty," and "if they can do it to Poland, they
can do it everywhere."

The UN's review is based on a Polish progress report that, according to
Kowalevski, was prepared this year by radical feminist and pro-abortion
groups led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the
Polish Federation on Women and Family Planning. Kowalevski says the report
was "full of inaccurate data," such as the claim that up to 200,000
illegal abortions occur annually in Poland, while the government's
official estimate places such abortions in the hundreds. A statement
released by Polish pro-life groups shows that even when abortion-on-demand
was available, before the current restrictive law came into effect in
1997, the total number of abortions did not exceed 60,000 per year.

The UN report also requests the adoption of a wider social agenda,
telling Poland to track doctors who refuse to carry out abortions, that
"[d]iscrimination on the ground of sexual orientation should be
specifically prohibited in Polish law," and that the undefined "sexual
minorities" should be protected. Poland should also alter the "nature" of
sexual education in schools to meet the Committee's standards.

Copyright 2004 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.


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