As the life around is waking up with a fresh boost, the pro-life movement in Poland also comes back with new power to stand against the “culture of death”.
Some are limited to a few major cities, others take place throughout the country; some fight for a change in abortion laws, while others concentrate more on promoting the culture of life and family values; most of them involve doing something practical for the cause, like collecting diapers and other necessary products for families or single parents in need, all are peaceful and happy: pro-life marches really abound in Spring.
It is hard to discern where we are at when it comes to abortion in the Western world. The pro-life movement suffers a major blow as one of its bastions falls in Ireland, but then there is the “Heartbeat Bill” in Ohio. There are outrageous laws passed in New York against the unborn, but there is a massive success of the movie “Unplanned”, now on screens in the US. The battle in Poland is no different: we have witnessed a fair share of the so-called “Black Marches” postulating to give more power over the developing life to the mother and the doctor. Thay were successful to the extent that the current conservative government decided not to change the current “compromise” law to a more pro-life one after hundreds of thousands signatures were delivered to the parliament, in support of the cause.
Yet, it appears that the movement is gaining momentum again as this Spring has already seen two major pro-life marches attracting ten of thousands of supporters. One, the National March for Life, happened on 24th March, while the other, the Sanctity of Life March, on 7th April. As for the latter, this year it focused on fatherhood as it seems to be more and more depreciated in current culture. There is another march coming on 9th June – March for Life and Family – and, judging from previous years, it might attract even more participants than the previous two. A Spring like this provides a ray of hope that more eyes will be opened to the truth about human life and its value, and that one day the general public will mature enough to want to respect it from the beginning to the end.