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AP Photo/Alik Keplicz
World News

Poland to pay families with disabled children, after Church abortion law defeated

by Hannah Tooley

The proposal comes after a bill, pushed by the Church, for a complete ban on abortion, was defeated after mass protests throughout the overwhelmingly Catholic country.

The 'For Life' plan will come into force in 2017 and provides a one-off payment of £820 (4,000 zlotys) on the birth of a disabled child or one with a life-threatening disease.

Abortion is currently illegal in Poland in most cases but there are exceptions if the pregnancy poses a threat to the woman's health or life, if it results from a crime like incest or rape or if the foetus is damaged.

Protesters say a total ban would lead to women dying or it would force them to travel to other countries for abortions. 

AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Earlier in the year priests argued in a letter that there can be no compromise on the matter, citing the Biblical precept "Thou shalt not kill".

Government member Elzbieta Witek said the money is intended as the "first step" of government support for families with disabled children.

These families have long been demanding higher government provision, which currently stands at £266 (1,300 zlotys) a month for a parent taking care of the child full-time.

The conservative Law and Justice government, under the influence of the Catholic church, is seeking to ban abortions of deformed or sick foetuses, or even those with no chance of survival, to make baptism possible.

But under a general anti-abortion climate and threat of prison terms, doctors often refuse to perform even legal abortions.

Government figures say 1,040 abortions were performed last year, while experts say 150,000 were done illegally and secretly.

 
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