The Polish government has been reprimanded by the European Union for its plan to introduce pro-life legislation.
Polish ministers are pressing ahead with plans to change the law to protect unborn children with disabilities from being aborted.
The EU claims the proposals represent a “serious breach of European values”.
Unprecedented interference
Despite the proposals receiving support from 830,000 Poles in a petition delivered to the Polish government, the European Parliament said that if plans proceed it may suspend Poland’s EU Council voting rights.
“the right to life is fundamental to every human being”
Hungary’s Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén described the EU’s move as “unprecedented”.
He said: “The decision seriously damages Poland’s sovereignty. It is unacceptable that Brussels is putting pressure on sovereign member states and arbitrarily punishing democratically elected governments.”
Right to life
The Roman Catholic Church is backing the legislation which is expected to be introduced early this year.
One bishop, Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, said: “The Polish bishops’ conference underlines that the right to life is fundamental to every human being, so we should all protect this right for defenceless children”.
He added: “Nobody can take this right away, nor can external or internal pressures change the scientifically proved fact that human life begins at the moment of conception.”
Adoption
Rytel-Andrianik said the current law “doesn’t protect human life sufficiently” because it allows the abortion of unborn children with a disability, adding “in 90 per cent of cases this refers to children with Down’s syndrome”.
He added: “If parents decide not to bring up a child, they can always pass the child up for adoption, especially when so many families are ready to care for them.”