The decree implementing the law on the protection of fetal life has been amended.Continue reading
Twenty Hungarian NGOs working to protect fetal life and support pregnant women in crisis have issued a joint statement in support of the heartbeat decree.
The statement sent to MTI on Thursday was signed by the leadership of the Hungarian Society of Christian Doctors, the National Association of Large Families, the Hungarian Bioethics Society, and the organization Take Action Against Abortion, among others. The reason for this is that on September 15, a ministerial decree came into effect in Hungary amending the regulation of the law on the protection of fetal life.
According to the amended decree, abortion will now require a certificate issued by an obstetrician-gynaecologist, proving that the health care provider has clearly presented to the mother “a factor indicating the functioning of the fetal vital functions,” i.e. the heart sound. Standard access to abortion is not affected by the regulation, the organizations said. Currently, women can have an abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy in Hungary.
The signatory organizations wrote that “the Hungarian pro-life community” unanimously welcomes and supports the new regulation. A series of international experiences confirms that the test, which can be easily performed with modern diagnostic tools, can save the lives of many fetuses, they added.
In their view, the sound of the baby’s heartbeat, the “meeting” between the baby and the mother, has in many cases turned back a mother who was about to have an abortion, feeling under pressure, and who was shocked by the sound of her baby’s heartbeat, to realize that she had a “sentient, developing life in her heart.”
According to the signatories, the new regulation gives a woman in crisis the opportunity not to regret her decision, which is irreversible and life-changing. The life of the mother and the child is an equally precious human life, they stressed. It is not negligible that many families would be adoptive parents of children whose parents would give up or “end their lives by abortion during the fetal phase,” they wrote.
The signatory organizations said they hoped that many children could be saved and many mothers and families could avoid the physical and emotional trauma of abortion by “finally allowing the fetus to send a message,” even if only for a few seconds, to its parents who are deciding its fate.
The decree is an important step in demonstrating that Hungarian society feels a responsibility towards every child conceived and “we all share this responsibility,” the signatories wrote. They stressed that they support the decree in the spirit of the fundamental law, which states that “every human being has the right to life and human dignity, and the life of the fetus is protected from conception.”
Among the signatories of the joint declaration are Hungarian Franciscan monk Csaba Böjte, founder of the Saint Francis Foundation of Deva, János Székely, Bishop of the Diocese of Szombathely, neurosurgeon András Csókay, and several institutions, associations, and organizations.
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