Polish Gov’t Will Pay Families of Disabled Newborns

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WARSAW (ChurchMilitant.com) - Poland's parliament is trying to reduce abortions by paying families with disabled or terminally ill children. It's the government's latest measure to fight abortion in a nation that allows the killing of the unborn with fetal disabilities.

The Polish government will pay 4,000 zlotys ($1,000) to the families of disabled newborns and those with life-threatening illnesses. The parliament voted 267–140, with 21 members abstaining from the vote, in favor of the plan.

Elzbieta Witek, an official with the Polish government, stated that this would be the first step towards more government support for families with disabled children. The program, titled the "For Life" plan, seeks to reduce abortions in cases where newborns are disabled, have deformities or have terminal conditions. The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, is widely expected to sign the bill into law.

The vast majority of legal abortions in Poland occur when the child has a severe disability or deformity — what this plan is trying to prevent.

According to official government figures, there were 1,040 abortions performed last year, while it's reported that there were 150,000 illegal and secretly performed abortions.

The number of illegal abortions performed in Poland has been confirmed by Wanda Nowicka, the chairwoman of the Federation for Women and Family planning. She said, "We estimate that on average 150,000 abortions are performed per year. Of this number, some 10–15 percent of abortions are performed abroad and this number is definitely growing."

Janusz Radzinski, a German doctor near the Polish border, commented, "Several thousand Polish women terminate pregnancies in Germany every year."

The abortion debate was triggered in Poland after a baby born alive after a botched abortion was left to scream in agony for more than 20 minutes until he died, with no medical care. Parliament recently considered a complete ban on abortion, which went on to be defeated by a margin of 352–58 in the lower house after pro-abortion protests.

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