Polish pro-lifer requires surgery after attack outside Warsaw hospital
Pro-lifers are often deemed ‘fanatical,’ accused of ‘extremism’ and labelled ‘intolerant.’ However, over the last few years, there has been a drastic increase globally in violent attacks over the abortion issue. The reality is that fanatical extremism is taking the form of violence against pro-lifers, as opposed to the other way around. These are peaceful protestors raising awareness of the humanity and most elementary right to life of unborn children, exercising their own right to free speech, and they have been repeatedly physically and verbally attacked.
One example fresh from Poland is the case of a young woman and a man injuring two pro-lifers and damaging a pro-life display in an attack outside a hospital performing abortions in Warsaw. One of the pro-life activists was brutally battered while the other was hospitalized and had to undergo surgery. The jarring incident happened on July 7th, when two assailants’ defaced pro-life posters displayed on a truck in the Orłowski Hospital parking lot, reported The Right to Life Foundation. The two pro-lifers, named Artur and Dawid, were keeping an eye on their mobile exhibit when they caught sight of a woman spraying the posters. When confronted, the woman’s companion, a young man, punched Artur. The pro-lifers pepper- sprayed the attackers in self-defence and made a citizen’s arrest until the police arrived. Pepper-spray is regularly carried by the activists from the Right to Life Foundation in Poland because of the increasing spate of physical attacks on them. This was more than a brush with angry pro-abortionists, and the pro-life activists sustained real injuries. Dawid required immediate surgery on his arm and his ankle was sprained in the vicious assault. Speaking to US news source LifeSiteNews on July 10th, he said that he feels good and awaits a doctor’s decision on when he can go home. He went on to thank all those who offered their support and prayers.
Despite the attack, Dawid is unyielding in his resolve to protect the unborn. “I will not stop the fight for the defenceless,” he promised in defiant tones. The pro-lifers captured the assault’s immediate aftermath on video. It shows a violent woman dressed in a bloodied shirt, covering up her face with a jacket and screaming profanities. Since its arrival in June, the mobile exhibit in front of Orłowski Hospital has been targeted by intolerant vandals four times. Back in the first week of July, the exhibit was attacked twice. In one particularly alarming case, the aggressor was a man carrying a knife who was stopped by Dawid and Artur. In the other instance in July, the display and an accompanying pro-lifer were attacked by a medical doctor and a medical student, two self-professed feminists known for their pro-abortion fight. The latest attack will not be successful in stopping the incredible efforts of the Right to Life Foundation. They are currently running a campaign ‘Hospitals without Abortionists’ and Orłowski hospital is a prominent point of focus for them because it performed a staggering 119 abortions in 2016. According to one of the organizers Mariusz Dzierżawski, this tragically qualifies it as “the biggest slaughterhouse in Poland.” The Right to Life Foundation’s campaign truck had been parked just outside the main entrance to the clinic 24 hours a day in order to give patients access to comprehensive information about abortion.
The Right to Life Foundation recently launched a petition to Orłowski Hospital director Anna Łukasik calling on her to stop abortions at the facility. The group’s major hope is to duplicate their previous success with the private Pro-Familia hospital in Rzeszów. The administration at this facility initially sued the group for picketing but after two years called a halt to all abortions. Dawid told LifeSiteNews that their hard work is definitely not going to waste and they are already seeing the fruits of their labour. “At other locations where we picket, the number of abortions is already dropping,” a spirited Dawid concluded.
Despite the escalating violence against pro-lifers, the media silence is deafening. The media have repeatedly ignored attacks against pro-life activists. The reality of what is playing out globally does not fit the anti-life, pro-choice mainstream media narrative. And so time and time again, they shun coverage of these violent attacks. The reality is that what is being exposed is the fundamental difference between pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life is always willing to dialogue and engage in civilised conversation and debate, but the left is prone to vicious and violent attacks targeting anyone who disagrees with or challenges their point of view. This is their strategy – to instil fear and silence amongst all opposition in a quest for ideological tyranny.
These attacks are not sporadic but they have become somewhat customary. The list of brutal beatings, vandalism, attacks, and other crimes perpetrated against pro-life activists is virtually endless. And not just in Poland – this behaviour has become a cultural phenomenon. It has spread like wildfire globally, from across Europe to the US – yet, thanks to the stifling media bias which routinely caricatures pro-lifers as ignorant, mean-spirited zealots and abortionists as persecuted, well-meaning heroes who suffer violence due to their selfless service for women, we don't hear about it. It flies under the radar. In light of this most recent brutal attack in Poland, let’s set the record straight. Depicting pro-lifers as violent zealots who persecute upstanding and well-intentioned pro-abortionists may be politically correct and serve as an easy storytelling device, but it is a major mischaracterization.