The government of Poland voted to criminalize sex education they felt led to “the promotion of underage sexual activity.”
The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) Party voted to move the legislation into parliamentary commission for further work amid public protests outside Parliament and across the country. Protesters held signs saying “Education protects against violence” and “Banning sex education is rape,” as they condemned the PiS Party for espousing what they considered to be outdated values that would negatively affect youth.
“Disgrace for the deputies … who referred for further work a project punishing sex education with prison,” said Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, a member of the opposing Now! liberal political party.
Poland is known for being primarily Roman Catholic and holds many conservative values in Parliament that are in line with teachings of the Catholic Church. 87.5% of citizens identified as Roman Catholic in 2011 and in 2016 Parliament voted to elect Jesus Christ as king of the country.
The PiS Party won parliamentary elections held in Poland on Sunday and other conservative and Catholic lawmakers landed seats as well. Liberal opposition to the new law banning promotion of sex among minors claims that conservative politicians in Parliament are attempting to court Catholic votes in future elections.
“They are trying to impose a narrative that we are in a culture and civilization war,” Scheuring-Wielgus said. She also implied that support for legislation specifically targeted activists and educators. Other critics feel the bill would specifically harm the youth and transgender population of Poland.
PiS lawmakers felt that liberal opposition was an “overinterpretation” of the bill with one newly elected member of Parliament, Marcin Ociepa, saying the intention was much simpler. “This only says that it is not allowed to encourage a person younger than 15 … to have sex or to conduct other sexual activities,” he said.
Bishop Ignacy Dec of the Świdnica diocese agreed that the content of the bill was in order to protect youth from increasingly liberal global politics that were antithetical to the Catholic Church. “It is worrying that some local authorities are introducing to pre-schools and schools sexualization programs recommended by the World Health Organization, which just harm children and youths,” he said of the legislation.
