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  • Title: Poland's other Thirty Years' War.
    Author: Kozakiewicz M.
    Journal: Entre Nous Cph Den; 1990 Jun; (14-15):15. PubMed ID: 12222209.
    Abstract:
    The Polish Family Development Association (Towarzystwo Rozwoju Rodziny (TRR)) was founded in 1957. At the end of 1988, TRR owned and ran 89 medical clinics, 5 youth centers, 25 premarital and family counseling centers, and 6 prenatal training schools. 140,000 patients were served in 1988, and 140,000 in 1989. But there was a decline in the number of family counseling and premarital centers. It fell to 22 at the end of 1989 and 16 in the 1/4 of 1990. The nonCommunist government took crisis measures. From January 1 onward, the government suspended all kinds of subsidies for nongovernmental organizations in Poland. The TRR was compelled to dissolve 12 local branches. Nothing is certain anymore, even the Minister of Health has changed. Poland's Catholic Church has been in conflict with TRR. The Church is against abortions, contraception, and secular, modern sex education. Because of Church opposition to contraception, the abortion rate is very high. Official statistics tell only the number of abortions done in hospitals. The real abortion numbers are subject to controversy. The Church claims that the real number of is 1 million a year. However, the real estimate is about 400,00 to 600,000 a year, resulting in a ratio of 70 to 100 abortions/100 live births. The powerful Pro-Life movement is partly supported and financed by American "Pro-Life" interests and partly by Solidarity (which is split on the issue). Pro-Life campaigns for declaring the 1957 abortion law illegal. 76% of the people in towns and 87% in villages rely solely on the natural methods accepted by the Church. The supply and demand of modern contraceptives is unreliable. Political changes in Poland may have a negative effect on family planning and sex education. Sex education (from age 11) in the narrow sense of telling where babies come from has been compulsory since 1972. But real sex education has only been compulsory since 1987. It is taught in all secondary schools (ages 15-19) for 1 hour every other week. Voluntary sterilization is illegal. Artificial insemination is not legally regulated. TRR must start a preventive AIDS campaign. Homosexuals are being urged to organize into an open association for self defense.
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