Polish ad causes abortion tourism row
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A cheeky take on the Mastercard priceless advertisements has gotten British MPs all hot and bothered. Critics have lashed out at a poster campaign by pro-choice activists in Poland, which invites Poles to get free terminations on Britain’s National Health Service.
A controversial poster campaign being run in Poland by the pro-choice feminist group SROM shows a young woman dressed in white lingerie with “My choice” written on her stomach. The poster reads: “Plane ticket to England special offer - 300 zloty (77 euro); accommodation - 240 zloty; abortion in a public clinic - 0 zloty; relief after procedure carried out in decent conditions - priceless. For everything, you pay less than an underground abortion in Poland.”
“When the Abortion Act was liberalised I said it would turn Britain into the abortion capital of Europe and that seems to be exactly what’s happened. The laws here are far, far too lax,” Conservative party MP Anne Widdecombe told a UK newspaper.
Abortion is illegal in Poland unless the woman's life or health is endangered, the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act, or the fetus is seriously malformed. Consequently, many women travel outside the country to get a termination or pay for back-street abortions at home.
A 2008 report by the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning shows that 10,000 Polish women had abortions in Britain in 2007 in procedures costing the NHS between €5.5-€11 million.
Spain
Roe v. Wade guarantees a right to privacy, not a right to elective abortion. I suggest the writers of the government option use the word "elective" abortion to exclude it, to innoculate itself from charges it will deny medically necessary abortions, and that the "mental health" loophole be eliminated.
Although pregnancy carries its mental risks, there is no scientific evidence or study to suggest the trauma of an abortion procedure is any better for women's long term mental health. Raising a child is another matter, and giving a life to adoption is not risk of mental health. Public dollars should not be used to fund procedures based on the unproven assertions on the matter the alleged mental health benefits of induced abortion.
