POLAND: Poland's conservative leaders, Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, have rejected pressure from their ultra-nationalist allies to introduce a blanket ban on abortions in the overwhelmingly Catholic country.
Poland already has one of Europe's toughest abortion laws but the League of Polish Families, junior members in the ruling coalition, want abortions outlawed even in cases of rape or when the mother's health is threatened.
"I am for keeping the status quo," Polish president Lech Kaczynski said yesterday. "The compromise reached on abortion 13 years ago is good." Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski echoed his brother's words, saying he wanted to avoid another storm over abortion.
Polish politicians on the left and right and Catholic bishops reached a broad consensus to restrict abortion after communism fell in 1989 to cases of rape and incest or serious health risks to the mother or foetus.
The league wants a total ban and suggested a change in the constitution. "A child should not be punished for the crimes of his father," the league's deputy, Marek Kotlinowski, said, referring to rape cases. "It's a tragedy for the woman. But the fate of the child interests me more." But because the brothers did not endorse the idea, it is likely to be defeated in a vote. - (Reuters)