POLISH ABORTION BAN CHALLENGED.

Religious leaders, women's rights groups and 150 leaders from 46 countries signed a letter* sent on February 19 to the president of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, urging him to reconsider reforming the country's arcane anti-abortion laws. Religious signatories included representatives of the Catholic church as well as of the Muslim, Buddhist, Protestant and Jewish faiths. There were 124 legal abortions in Poland in 2001, but it is estimated that between 800,000 and 200,000 back street abortions were carried out. It is only possible to get a legal abortion if it can be proved before the 12th week that the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or that it could threaten the health or life of the woman, or that the embryo is severely damaged. In spite of the population being mostly Catholic, in a recent poll, 49% of...