Read the article Black
Monday: Polish women strike against abortion ban at
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37540139 and state your opinion on it/discuss it.
Owls are nocturnal creatures. They’re wide awake at night and they sleep during the day. If this sounds like bliss to you, then, like about 20 percent of the population who find themselves most active at around 9 pm, you may fall into the same category as our feathered friend. Night owls often have difficulty waking up in the morning, and like to be up late at night. Studies of animal behaviour indicate that being a night owl may actually be built into some people’s genes. This would explain why those late-to-bed, late-to-rise people find it so difficult to change their behaviour. The trouble for night owls is that they just have to be at places such as work and school far too early. This is when the alarm clock becomes the night owl’s most important survival tool. Experts say that one way for a night owl to beat their dependence on their alarm clocks is to sleep with the curtains open. The Theory is that if they do so, the morning sunlight will awaken them gently and natura...
Comments
There are a lots of factors that are taken under consideration for example: declaration of faith or some moral issues. But in my opinion the choice should be left for woman's conscience.
Take a look on current paradox - woman can travel for example to Germany or Czech Republic and do abortion almost without any bigger problems. In my opinion if the government adopted the new law, the abortion turism would rise and the problem will still remain.
It is also said that a woman can also end pregnancy if it's a real danger to her life so that remains unchanged.
I agree that it's misguided and should be worked on if we are to ban it completely or partially. But in the end I think it should stay as it is now.
Firstly, Polish people are not so poor (or travel abroad is not so expensive).
Secondly, desperate person can do a lot to achieve the goal. Especially, if it is goal like this.
I cannot agree with Damian who says "in my opinion the choice should be left for woman's conscience". It's not about conscience. Some life situations are very difficult (money, food, living conditions) and people (not only women) decide through this prism and we shouldn't agree with such decision.
On the other hand, there are life threatening situations. In this case, abortion should be banned? What about woman or child who cannot survive?
It's difficult issue and I'm fully convinced that the law cannot be directed to one side.
I could not imagine the situation when women was raped and she is forced to carry a child from it. It could destroy her mind.
In such case if you really need to introduce the abortion ban you should also provide her with psychologist care to help her handle this crisis.
Everything is about right education, not about making rules to obey. If you educate people you won' t need any restrictions. For example in Scandinavian countries you don' t have any prohibitions acording abortion, it is fully legal there. Despite this they have the lowest percentage of abortions. This is because of a very good sexual education.
I think you should have the free choice in such situations. You will be the person responsible for caring about this sick child and in most cases you won't have any help from government.
On the other hand, many people, especially women, was misguided by media about the content of anti-abortion proposal. Many of them didn't read it by yourself, their point of view was created by media from both sides, which could easily manipulate it.
Number of protesters, who organized themselves in short period of time, is what should be remembered in my opinion. It shows, that topics like abortion should be gently discussed with nation.
I belive that it is very important for everyone to get the knowledge (of every aspect of this topic) and and try to be emphatic.
Knowledge and empathy are keys to understanding.
Nevertheless, I am afraid that Black Monday is just the way in which politics are trying to draw our attention away from ongoing problems and conflicts, that are happening behind the scenes.
Jamila Raqib in her presentation on TED Conference mentioned that her friend,Gene Sharp, has identified 198 methods of nonviolent action. And protest is only one of this ways. 198! Big number, isn’t it? I want to mention here just a part of this interesting talk, an example of Guatemala. “Until a few months ago, Guatemala was ruled by corrupt former military officials with ties to organized crime. People were generally aware of this, but most of them felt powerless to do anything about it - until one group of citizens, just 12 regular people, put out a call on Facebook to their friends to meet in the central plaza, holding signs with a message: "Renuncia YA" - resign already. To their surprise, 30,000 people showed up. They stayed there for months as protests spread throughout the country. At one point, the organizers delivered hundreds of eggs to various government buildings with a message: "If you don't have the huevos" -- the balls -- "to stop corrupt candidates from running for office, you can borrow ours."”.
What I’ve learned from a protest in Poland and from the video, which I’ve mentioned above, is that citizens of a country can change everything. They need to use their assertiveness, persistence and … creativity. From my outside view as a foreigner, I think Polish people will not give a chance to limit their rights. For me, it shows the high development and consciousness of the nation.
I think that abortion should be legal (or more widely available) than it is at the moment and involving the father in the decision itself is not a bad idea either (although it also seems really complicated to implement).
When it comes to the protest itself, I think that it was a good answer to the idea of imposing restrictions on an already strict law. I also wish that other decisions of the current government would meet with a similar response.
I can totally understand why women had the urge to go out and become visible for the society, in order to show that they want to be heard and respected.
In my opinion the problem is that some people treat this topic like any other that can be easily framed and structured so there is a defined and unbreakable law or rule which must be followed.
The more we experience, we get to know that very often it is simply impossible to follow a general rule while we're talking about complex and life threatning problems of pregnancy which can cause death to a pregnant woman or an unborn child. It is so, because every situation like this is different, including different possibilities, solutions and consequences. Therefore I believe that women should have the right to decide, since it is them who actually are pregnant and deal with the issue which appears. I also agree that men could have a bigger say in this topic as fathers, but I still understand that some women really and truly find it very personal and want to be respected if it comes to the fact that they will have to deal with it directly.
Personally, I believe that at the end, it is still the woman which is already existing, functioning and living her life, so she should be the one to take the decision herself, since nobody will be able to be in her shoes and command what she should do.
As my colleagues said, abortion is hard to discuss but one thing is sure, that it shouldn't be discussed without women.
Only strict abortion ban would greatly reduce number of legal and illegal abortions, and it is a proven way to increase birth rate.
The fact that polish government considers using such options shows how critical is our demographic situation...