Catholic Poland mulls tighter abortion laws

WARSAW, Dec 15: Even under Poland's strict laws, Alicja Tysiac says she should have been allowed an abortion.

When Tysiac, who suffers from an acute eye disease, found she was pregnant for a third time in 2000, she was told by a doctor that the pregnancy, if carried to term, could leave her blind.

She asked for an abortion but approval was delayed until she had passed the 12-week limit for the procedure.

After the birth of her third child, Tysiac's eyesight degenerated until she was almost totally blind, unable to care for her children.

Now 36, she is registered as disabled.

Tysiac has taken Poland to the European Court of Human Rights saying her rights were violated. But even as she fights her case, a movement within overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Poland wants to make having an abortion more difficult.

Polish law, in force since 1993, allows abortion only when a pregnancy threatens the life or health of the mother, when the baby is likely to be permanently handicapped or when pregnancy originates from a crime, for example rape or incest.

This gives Poland some of the toughest abortion laws in Europe, where most states permit abortion in all circumstances if it is carried out within 12 weeks of conception.

But an alliance of priests and conservative politicians -- including the ultra-nationalist League of Polish Families which is part of the ruling coalition, -- wants to make all abortion in Poland illegal.

It is unlikely to succeed -- both mainstream politicians and public opinion seem opposed -- but some abortion rights campaigners fear the drive may lead to a crackdown on wider women's rights in the country.

''UNACCEPTABLE''

The alliance wants to modify the constitution to add the right to ''life protection from the moment of conception''.

It has already pushed through parliament a ''National Programme for Support of the Family'' to limit access to contraception. It argues that family planning, as well as being immoral and unhealthy, is contributing to a fall in population.

The population of Poland, now just over 38 million, is declining by around 100,000 a year, partly because of emigration, but also due to a low birth rate of 107.8 births per 10,000.

''Every ideology that excuses divorces, contraception, sterilisation, prostitution, pornography, paedophilia or other sexual perversions is unacceptable,'' Anna Sobecka, an independent Catholic member of parliament, said during a debate sponsored by supporters of the National Programme.

Marian Pilka of the ruling conservative Law and Justice Party agrees. ''The fact that contraception is damaging to health is as obvious as the fact that alcohol and cigarettes are dangerous,'' he argued during the same parliamentary debate.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, also of the Law and Justice Party, has said he is reluctant to change abortion laws he described as ''a compromise that is better not discussed''.

Kaczynski, and his twin brother Lech who is president, raised eyebrows in May when they formed the coalition with the League of Polish Families.

Kaczynski's party has a generally conservative view of the world and its critics accuse it of being populist and willing to change its policies if it can see an advantage. Abortion rights campaigners fear Jaroslaw Kaczynski might give in on abortion in exchange for League votes if the government faced defeat on another issue.

They point to the passage of the ''National Programme for Support of the Family'' as an example of the majority party bowing to demands from its junior partner.

Under the programme, messages warning of health side-effects will be printed on packets of contraceptives and access to family planning will be restricted, officials say, although exact details have yet to be published.

The government has also agreed to instruct the Ministry of Health to promote only ''natural'' methods of contraception in schools from next year.

''ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE''

Wanda Nowicka, head of the Federation for Women's Rights and Family Planning, says she is concerned the tide is flowing against women's rights.

''Anything is possible given the changes in politics at the moment,'' she told Reuters.

But advocates of tougher abortion laws face one big hurdle: Polish public opinion.

A survey conducted in November showed three out of four Poles thought abortion was either ''acceptable under some conditions'' or ''in any circumstances''. Only 18 per cent said they were absolute opponents of abortion.

Political analyst Lena Kolarska-Bobinska said she did not think Law and Justice wanted a row over this issue: ''I do not see a majority for changing the constitution in this parliament.'' Women's groups say banning contraception and tightening abortion laws would just drive abortion underground, sending more Polish women abroad to terminate their pregnancies.

Officially, only 200 legal abortions were performed in Poland last year. Nowicka's federation puts the total at closer to 200,000 and says many more women went across the border, mainly east to Belarus and Ukraine.

''If the law changes, next time I would have to travel abroad and risk my life. But I would do it,'' said Anna Zakrzewska, 30, one of very few Polish women who will admit publicly that they have had an illegal abortion.

''I did it in Poland and had enough money to find a doctor, even though it was against the law. Women who cannot afford it would be in a much worse situation,'' she told Reuters.

Women's groups say they will keep campaigning for more liberal abortion laws and would take the law into their own hands if the rules were tightened.

''I can imagine myself smuggling packets of birth control pills across the border into Poland by swallowing plastic pouches,'' said one woman. ''We are not giving up this fight.'' Tysiac, whose third child Julia is now 6 years old, agreed: ''I love my daughter, but I gave birth because I was forced to. I don't want anyone else to have to do that.''

REUTERS