Monday, March 15, 2010

Polish activists use images of aborted foetuses and Adolf Hitler in billboard campaign

From: Daily Mail
Controversial: The graphic billboard poster has been put up in Poznan, Poland, by anti-abortion group Pro
The anti-abortion group Pro said it was entirely legitimate to make a link between abortion and Nazi crimes.

Mariusz Dzierzawski, a campaign organiser, said: 'It is our duty to fight for the rights of murdered children.

'Abortion is a crime and drawing such a parallel is absolutely justified.'

The poster campaign, which is timed to remind Poles of Nazi rule during World War Two, also coincides with International Women's Day on March 8 - where feminists in Poland traditionally stage demonstrations to call for greater equality, including the right for abortion.

It has only been put up in Poznan, western Poland, but Mr Dzierzawski said Pro aimed to put it up in at least 30 other towns across the country.

Abortion in staunchly Roman Catholic Poland is illegal, except in a few cases. A recent survey showed more than two thirds of Pole are opposed to abortion, up slightly from 1998.

But reaction to the poster has been negative.

Aneta Turkiewicz covered her daughter's eyes as they passed the poster in Poznan.

She said: 'Words fail me... let's leave this topic to parents.

'They can explain the issue to their children more delicately.'

Magdalena Sroda, a professor of ethics who specialises in gender issues, said the poster was hypocritical.

She said: 'This is sick... fascism, Stalinism... prohibited abortion, often on pain of death, so bans on abortion are strongly linked to totalitarianism.'

Using Nazi symbols and images is politically sensitive in Poland, which lost around a fifth of its population during the German occupation, many of them in death camps such as Auschwitz built by the Nazis on Polish territory.