Every first Saturday of the month, people gather in the Bolesławiec market square and pray the rosary beneath a large banner showing a bloody fetus. They are opposed to abortion. On a daily basis, organizations that protest in this way speak about human dignity and respect for life and the body. The Bolesławiec group, however, has no problem displaying a bloody and dismembered human fetus—it parades it every month. It forces passers-by, who may not wish to have such images imposed on them, to look at it. Officials of Mayor Piotr Roman did not react, even though they knew what banner people would bring to the assembly.
Czy baner ze szczątkami płodu może być publicznie prezentowany?
Article 141 of the Petty Offences Code states: “anyone who places an indecent notice, inscription or drawing in a public place, or uses indecent words, is subject to a penalty of restriction of liberty, a fine of up to PLN 1,500, or a reprimand”.
Recently, in a judgment dated 16 February, the Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal of the Prosecutor General against the judgment of the District Court in Wrocław and found the defendant guilty of publicly presenting indecent content. The case concerned banners displaying photographs of bloody human fetuses.
Excerpt from the Supreme Court’s reasoning:
The Constitution provides that everyone is obliged to respect the freedom and rights of others, which consequently means that one should not interfere with the freedom from viewing photographs of bloody human fetuses. For obvious reasons, the Supreme Court is not authorized, outside the scope of its jurisdiction, to assess the methods and ways in which pro-life organizations operate. It should merely be noted that it is at least astonishing that a campaign in which the inherent and inalienable dignity of human beings from conception is emphasized in the media uses photographs of dead fetuses to which that dignity was supposedly due. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights, as noted in the reasoning of the judgment of the District Court in Wrocław, also supports the conclusion that the use of civil and criminal measures against the activities of pro-life activists corresponding to the conduct at issue in the case under consideration does not constitute a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
In the video, you can see who was standing beside the banner with the bloody remains of a human fetus.