News
Featured Image
Dawid recovers in a hospital after surgery as a result of injuries suffered in an attack on pro-lifers in Poland.Facebook

WARSAW, Poland, July 10, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A young woman and a man injured two pro-lifers and damaged a pro-life display in an attack outside a hospital performing abortions in Warsaw.

One of the pro-life activists was battered and the other was hospitalized and underwent surgery.

The Right to Life Foundation website reported that on July 7 the two assailants defaced pro-life posters displayed on a truck in the Orłowski Hospital parking lot. The two pro-lifers, identified as Artur and Dawid, were keeping an eye on the mobile exhibit when they saw a woman spraying the posters. When confronted, the woman’s companion, a young man, punched Artur. The pro-lifers pepper- sprayed the assailants in self-defense and made a citizen’s arrest until police arrived.

During the struggle, Dawid’s ankle was sprained and his arm required immediate surgery and several days of hospitalization. He told LifeSiteNews that he feels good and awaits a doctor’s decision on when he can go home. He thanked all those who offered support and prayers.

Despite the attack, Dawid is unbowed. “I will not stop the fight for the defenseless,” he promised.

The pro-lifers took a video of the assault’s immediate aftermath.

It shows an aggressive woman wearing a bloodied shirt, screaming profanities and covering her face with a jacket. She says she cannot see anything, which would suggest she had recently been pepper-sprayed. One of the pro-lifers is trying to gently prevent her from going on the road and harming herself.

Mace or pepper spray uses an inflammatory agent that differs in strength and the duration of the effect. Normally, the blindness lasts from about 15 to 30 minutes. According to the study “Effects of Oleoresin Capsicum Pepper Spray on Human Corneal Morphology and Sensitivity “ published in the Journal of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science in 2000, a single exposure of pepper spray appears harmless to corneal tissue.

Polish Provincial Kraków Police explained that carrying pepper spray does not require a permit and can be used in self-defense by anyone over 18. Mace is regularly carried by the activists from the Right to Life Foundation because of the increasing number of attacks on them.

The mobile exhibit in front of Orłowski Hospital has been a target of vandalism four times since its arrival in June. Last week, the exhibit was attacked twice. In each instance, pro-lifers were able to apprehend the attackers and film the incidents. In one case, the aggressor was a man with a knife who was stopped by Dawid and Artur. In the other instance, the display and a pro-lifer were attacked by a medical doctor and a medical student, two feminists known for their pro-abortion fight. The Right to Life Foundation files suits every time their activists are victims of violence and their property is damaged.

The latest attack will not stop the Right to Life Foundation. Their truck is a part of their campaign “Hospitals without Abortionists” that started months ago. Orłowski Hospital was a prime target because it performed 119 abortions in 2016, making it, according to one of the organizers Mariusz Dzierżawski, “the biggest slaughterhouse in Poland.” The truck had been parked just in front of the main entrance to the clinic 24 hours a day in order to inform patients about abortion.

The Right to Life Foundation started a petition to Orłowski Hospital director Anna Łukasik calling her to stop abortions at the facility.

The pro-lifers hope to duplicate their success with the private Pro-Familia hospital in Rzeszów. The administration at this facility initially sued them for picketing but after two years called a halt to all abortions.

Dawid told LifeSiteNews that the fruits of their labors are already evident. “At other locations where we picket, the number of abortions is already dropping,” he concluded.