Religion & Liberty Online

The welfare state threatens vulnerable life

Poland has an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population, a putatively pro-life government, and a popular initiative to protect the lives of children suffering from genetic conditions like Down syndrome – so, why has it gone nowhere? Politicians candidly admit allowing sick children to survive would cost the state-run health care system too much money.

At Acton’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, Polish author Marcin Rzegocki writes:

A report from an official parliamentary body, the Bureau of Parliamentary Analysis, stated that “adoption of this project will have negative social, legal, and even financial consequences.” The pro-life project was even called “inhuman” by a PiS deputy, Joanna Lichocka. According to a Polish state institution, the state cannot allow the sick to live, because it will prove too costly to the taxpayer-funded health care system. Thus, eventually the proposal was sent into parliamentary limbo.

You can read his whole, articulate article here.

(Photo credit: PinkStock Photos, D. Sharon Pruitt. CC BY 2.0.)

Rev. Ben Johnson

Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as Executive Editor of the Acton Institute (2016-2021), editing Religion & Liberty, the Powerblog, and its transatlantic website. He has extensively researched the Alt-Right. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews and FrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His work has appeared at DailyWire.com, National Review, The American Spectator, The Guardian, Daily Caller, National Catholic Register, Spectator USA, FEE Online, RealClear Policy, The Blaze, The Stream, American Greatness, Aleteia, Providence Magazine, Charisma, Jewish World Review, Human Events, Intellectual Takeout, CatholicVote.org, Issues & Insights, The Conservative, Rare.us, and The American Orthodox Institute. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com. His views are his own.