Amplify’d from blogs.wsj.com

Hungary May Introduce Constitutional Ban on Abortion

Life must be protected from the moment of conception, Hungary’s ruling party said in a draft of the country’s new constitution that would effectively introduce a complete ban on abortion after several decades of liberal laws.

Pope Benedict XVI earlier in December told the Hungarian ambassador it was “desirable that the new constitution be inspired by Christian values, particularly in what concerns the position of marriage and the family in society and the protection of life.” The pontiff’s wishes are reflected well in the governing Fidesz party’s proposal, which — in additional to mirroring papal teaching on abortion — says marriage is “the most natural community of man and woman.”

Hungary’s new constitution — even though irritating for those who believe in women’s freedom of choice or fail to see any danger in gay marriage — could be interpreted as a response to the country’s population decline, which strains the pension system.

Hungary in November went back to a pay-as-you-go state pension scheme, into which current employees contribute cash paid out to current pensioners. Like elsewhere in the developed world, Hungary’s population is aging, which puts a question mark over who will pay pensions in several decades to those who are young now.

After the EU refused to allow Hungary to deduct the costs of the 1997 pension system change from its deficits, the country decided to fill the gap by eradicating the cost altogether and scrapping the mandatory funded system, managed by private firms.

The governing party might be hoping for a repeat of a surge in new births in 1950-1956 under Health Minister Anna Ratko, when abortion was banned and the childless taxed. The generation of the so-called Ratko-children was born. They and their children — the “Ratko-grandchildren” — have so far kept Hungary’s pension system running.

Poland’s constitution, adopted in 1997, mentions marriage as the opposite-sex union and states that life is protected from conception to natural death.

The Hungarian government’s pension system overhaul didn’t spark many protests in the society, which seems to agree the ruling party, with a two-thirds majority in parliament, has the right to choose the tools for reaching its economic goals. The new constitution will test if the society has a similar view on ethics. Read more at blogs.wsj.com

 

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