Suffer the Little Blastocysts to Come Unto Me

Those whose idea of moral responsibility is to trust in Providence can hardly be expected to be paragons of planning. A mentally disabled fourteen-year-old in a Catholic country was impregnated by her uncle, who was presumably aware of the Vatican's powers of forgiveness in such cases. An aunt tried to help her obtain an abortion, but the treatment was refused at several hospitals where medical staff evidently believed that a merciful Deity had already ensouled the foetus. Eventually a women's rights group had to step in and arrange an abortion in Warsaw; and the Polish minister of health has declared himself appalled that legislation designed to remove women's rights has resulted in the removal of women's rights.