The draft law to ban abortion was launched in autumn 1988 by a group of Catholic deputies from the satellite groups of the ruling bureaucracy (sce International Viewpoint, no. 165, June 12, 1989). After Solidarnosc' victory in the partially free elections of June 1989, the defence of this project was taken up with great energy by a new force in the Diet and Senate (the two houses of the Polish parliament). This was the National Christian Union (ZChN), a small but energetic party of the radical right some of whose representatives were elected on the lists drawn up by
Church pressure on members of parliament, many of whom had been supported by the priests in the elections, as well as the vote by Solidarnosc's national congress for a resolution in favour of "protection of the conceived child" resulted in the Senate adopting the draft in September 1990. This vote was a warning that the right to abortion was in grave danger.
For the Church and clerical circles, this vote was a big boost, all the more in that at much the same time the Mazowiecki government restored courses in the catechism in state schools. This measure was taken by means of a simple "instruction"
from the Ministry of National Education, going around parliament and violating the constitution. When this was taken to the Constitutional Court, the Court backed the decision, an even more scandalous assault on a basic law, which, being Stalinist, lacked credibility. It is absolutely clear that Mazowiecki made this concession to the Church in the hope of getting the Episcopate's support for his presidential candidacy against Wale-
Persuaded that the road to a confessional state now lay open before it, the ecclesiastical hierarchy stepped up its crusade against abortion, contraception, secularism in public life and the separation of and state. Parish activists and Catholic militants mobilized to buy up contraceptives and destroy them, or put pressure on chemists not to distribute them. Using confidential instructions, the ministry of health set about winding up World Health Organization contracep tion programmes and put a stop to the distribution of high quality pills and coils supplied by European Community instiShortages of contraceptives
In a country where bureaucratic management has led to severe shortages and low quality for contraceptives, the effects have been disastrous. Without waiting for a vote on the law, Mazowiecki authorized hospitals to refuse abortions, while making it obligatory for women to come before two commissions, and writing in a conscience clause for doctors. The result has been the death of women owing to back-street abortions. This March seven new born children were found dead in
For its part, the Diet commission in charge of preparing the definitive version of the law stiffened the project adopted by the Senate. This time, it was not just a matter of penalizing doctors, but of making it an imprisonable offence for any woman to obtain an abortion on her own initiative, whatever the circumstances, even if the pregnancy was caused by rape or threatened the woman's health. The draft also banned the use of pills and IUDs, which the church considers as "abortive means"
All opinion polls reveal that more than 60% of Poles support the retention of the right to abortion, and that in the working
WOMEN: Poland class milieu the support is much higher, often going above 90%, counting both women and men. Thus it was clear to everyone that if the draft law were submitted to a referendum it would be defeated. But the Diet refused to submit the proposal to a referendum, instead going
"social consultation" exercise borrowed from the arsenals of the old-style "socialist democracy". The citizens were invited to write in their opinions on this subject to the Diet. While in the bad old days it was up to the PUWP (Communist Party) apparatus and its transmission belts to ensure that the consultation came up right results, it is now the structures of the church and its many relays which are in charge, employing the same kind of pressures on the masses. During mass the priests were demanding signatures on anti-abortion petitions with the threat of exclusion from the Christian community. In schools, even primary schools, the catechism teachers were urging their pupils to sign "to prevent the Communists from murdering babies." Ignoring the protests of psychologists, they showed children a horrible American "pro-life" propaganda
Bogus consultations
Some 1,700,000 people took part in the "consultations", 89% of whom were in favour of the ban on abortion. However the number of signatures gained on the impressive compared to the total number of Catholics — the overwhelming majority of the population - and despite the immense efforts of the church apparatus.
In Lodz the consultation resulted in a crushing defeat for the church. This traditionally Catholic industrial city is presently governed by the National Christian Union, which exercises a strong pressure on the regional leadership of Solidarnosc. However here the result was the opposite of the national trend, with 84% of those who took part in the consultation expressing support for the right to choose.
This was because here the Solidarosc enterprise commissions, the former official union, the OPZZ and the Women's League (an organization of the ancien regime which retains a working class base) launched their own petitions in opposition to the church amongst the city's women textile workers. The Lodz result went a long way to exposing the whole operation.
The church's offensive is not having the effect its sponsors hoped for. The understanding that the right to abortion and secin public life are important democratic achievements, which are now in danger, is spreading in this Catholic sentiments are spreading in the working class, the youth and the intelligentsia. Slowly but surely opponents of clericalization are beginning to dare to speak up in the media. The July 8, 1991 • #210 International Viewpoint
WOMEN: Poland / East Germany present government is in the hands of a small radical pro-market party, the Liberal Democratic Congress, which, while supporting the restoration of capitalism, is also characterized by a relatively independent attitude to the church and a secularist
Sensitive at this level to the pressure of opinion, the government has sacked a state prosecutor who denigrated and a vice health minister who condemned homosexuality and tried to put a stop to the production of contracep-
The abortion issue is having an impor tant effect in shaking up the Polish political and ideological scene. Two examples: the first is the spectacular break of Zbigniew Bujak, a former leader of underground Solidarnosc, with the Democratic
This party, a regroupment of diverse elements, going from the former "secular left" to the new "democratic right", was unable to reach a position on the abortion issue, all the more so in that its leader, Mazowiecki, is the man responsible for opening the door to the clericalization of public life. This was one of the reasons for Bujak's split and his foundation of a party with a social democratic
Women's parliamentary
The second, equally significant event, is the formation of a cross-party women's parliamentary circle, under the presidency of Barbara Labuda, herself a member of the Democratic Union. This circle aims to oppose men dictating laws concerning defenders of women's rights to parlia-
Pressure from democratic public opinion in Western Europe has a very important role to play in the battle for the right to choose and against the clerical offensive in Poland. President Walesa was questioned on this issue by several personalities from the French Socialist Party on his visit to France. Leaders of some
West European trade unions have also approached Walesa and the Solidarnosc leadership over the issue.
Family Planning Movement has initiated a campaign of solidarity with Polish women taking the form of the sending of thousands of postcards to Polish deputies.
A motion has been adopted by the Council of Europe inviting Poland "which wishes to rejoin the European family" not to adopt legislation which "other European countries have for a long time banished from the statute books, as archaic and showing little respect for human rights."
There can be little doubt that it is such pressures that have led Jacek Kuron to revive the demand for a referendum. A leader of Mazowiecki's party and a for26 has pointed out hai ive Dices ole on mer minister in his government, Kuron International Viewpoint #210 • July 8, 1991 favour of a ban on abortion against the will of the majority of public opinion, could be the spark that ignites the social created by the pro-capitalist tensions course of the new elite. Kuron's initiative drew down furious attacks from the clerical right and a virulent reaction from the
The bishops conference condemned
the idea of a referendum on the grounds that divine laws could not be subjected to a popular vote. It has called abortion the second Auschwitz, suggesting supporters of women's right to choose are comparable to the overseers of the Nazi concentration camps. Gazeta Wyborcza, a mass circulation daily edited by Adam Michnik, for the first time denounced the ideological terrorism used by the bishops. On the other hand Kuron, the main target of the reactionary campaign, immediately took a low profile. Engaging in an about turn of a kind in which the leaders of the new Polish elite are specialists, he explained publicly that he is against the right to abortion, but that it is necessary to convince the people that the draft is just and get popular approval for it.
Pressure of public opinion
Gripped by panic and scared of a clash both with the church and society, the
Democratic Union then proposed that the
Diet wash its hands of the matter; neither vote now, nor hold a referendum, but wait for better times. Despite the obvious opportunism, this attitude shows that the pressure of national and international public opinion can affect the decisions of the Polish authorities. But the Diet's decisions also represents a danger; already the
Democratic Union is preparing a new, more flexible, draft anti-abortion law with the aim of both satisfying the church and neutralizing social pressure.