Pope Attacks Polish Abortion Proposal

Pope John Paul II lashed out at the Parliament in his native Poland for moves to liberalize abortion laws. “A nation that kills its own children is a nation without hope,” the pontiff said in Polish following his weekly address, delivered at his Castel Gandolfo summer residence southeast of Rome. The powerful lower house of Poland’s Parliament passed a resolution Friday to allow women with personal or financial difficulties to terminate their pregnancies during the first 12 weeks. The bill is expected to pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Aleksander Kwasniewski. The pope, troubled by recent bouts of abdominal problems and fevers, appeared in good health.