On November, 30 the “Stop Abortion” Civic Committee has tabled 830 000 signatures under the bill that would ban abortion in one of the three cases in which abortion is allowed according to the Bill of 1993. The organisers of the campaign with a strong and active support of the Polish Episcopate and parishes all over the country have been widespreading myths about how and when abortion is performed referring to numbers that deny the reality. They also used false and cruel billboards with dismembered foetuses so as to distort the image of actual abortion procedures. It is worth emphasising that the campaigners were allowed to collect signatures in front of churches after services, while priests and bishops, not mentioning powerful politicians, encouraged citizens to support the initiative. Given the massive mobilization of the Catholic groups, the number of signatures is neither significant nor reflecting public support for even more restrictive law. In the light of the latest polls, Poles are in favour of either liberalization (41%) or the status quo (40%).
At the same time, we are witnessing an unprecedented, politicised attempt of using the Constitutional Tribunal to make abortion in this case illegal. We have covered this issue in this article.
