AFT Denounces the Polish Government's Plans to Ban Completely All Abortions

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - April 15, 2016) - Atheist Freethinkers (AFT), an association which promotes secularism and supports the rights of atheists, denounces the draft legislation tabled by the Polish government in response to pressure from the Catholic Church, which would completely ban all abortions in that country. AFT expresses its solidarity with our atheist colleagues of the Foundation Kazimierz Lyszczyński, co-organizer of the Days of Atheism 2016 held in Warsaw at the beginning of April and which opposes this draconian measure and similarly opposes all religious interference in the affairs of state.

In particular, the organization AFT is in solidarity with Polish women whose rights are already curtailed by current legislation which allows for termination of pregnancy only in case of serious risk to the woman's life and health, or irreversible pathology in the embryo, or pregnancy resulting from rape or incest. The new law would close even these three minimal exceptions and institute a total ban, thus completely flouting the reproductive rights of Polish women and increasing their suffering with a policy that responds only to the interests of the Church.

The rights and quality of life of all Poles, both men and women, are threatened by the servile attitude of their government towards the Catholic Church. Secularism-complete separation between religion and state-is necessary in order to protect the freedoms, including freedom of conscience, of all persons, and in particular to protect the reproductive rights of women.