The Window of Life in Warsaw
The Catholic Caritas Polska, Poland's largest charity organization, is going to open twenty "Windows of Life" - boxes built into convent walls, where mothers in desperate situation can leave their newly born babies, whom they decide not to keep, discreetly and in safe conditions. Three "Windows of Life" are already successfully operating in Poland. Babies found there are quickly adopted into loving families.
The idea is meant to prevent the tragedy of abortion. Mothers in desperate situations are given a possibility to abandon the baby in safe conditions. Unnoticed, they can place the baby in an air-conditioned box built into the walls of a convent and opened from the outside. Then, a special alarm notifies qualified personnel who come and take the baby to hospital for medical examination, and later to be adopted into loving families through a simplified adoption procedure.
Windows of Life already operating in Poland have been set up by the Catholic Church and affiliated institutions. Lay social workers offices have expressed interest in the idea. The Catholic Church has a history of providing this kinds of service to mothers in crisis situations, says Bishop Wiktor Skworc of the Tarnów diocese, about to open two windows of life. Nowadays there is an even more pressing need to give unwanted babies a chance, adds the bishop: 'Today society opens windows of death for pre-born children, through abortion, also through in vitro fertilization which, as we know, always involves the death of other embryos. And we are opening a window of life - giving another chance.'
Obviously, windows of life should be regarded only as a last resort measure, says Inga Kałużyńska of Women for Women foundation. Poland has a lot more to offer to pregnant mothers in despair, if only they want to try and keep the baby, she says. Leaving a baby in the safety of a window of life is not a crime according to Polish law, abandoning the baby elsewhere is regarded as exposing life or health of the baby to danger, and can be punished with three years of prison.
Several of the twenty planned windows of life are to be opened on the 24th and 25th of March, the National Day of Life and the Catholic Day of the Sanctity of Life, respectively.
Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by Joanna Najfeld.