The Gosc Niedzielny Catholic weekly lost its appeal, Friday, after accusing a woman of trying to kill her unborn baby, the Court of Appeal in Katowice ruled. 

The court in Katowice upheld an earlier lower court’s ruling that Gosc Niedzielny and its publisher – archdiocese in the southern city of Katowice – will have to apologize to Alicja Tysiac and pay her 30,000 zloty (7,200 euro) in damages.

The weekly had appealed the verdict, claiming that it was “shockingly unfair.” 

Alicja Tysiac is a mother of three. Several years ago Alicja was in danger of going blind on account of her pregnancy, but regardless of diagnosis doctors refused to perform an abortion. Throughout her pregnancy Alicja tried in vain to get an abortion, but her plea was refused repeatedly and she had to carry to term. After delivery her sight dramatically deteriorated. Alicja filed her human right violation claim against Poland in the European Court for Human rights in Strasbourg and won 25,000 euro damages

Gosc Niedzielny published a series of articles in which it accused Tysiac of attempting to kill her unborn baby and compared the woman with Nazi war criminals. Both courts decided that describing Alicja Tysiac’s case the weekly deliberately used expressions which were offensive, disdainful and aggressive. “Christianity is the religion of love and so should the language of the Catholic weekly be. Instead, it chose the language of hate,” said the judge.  

“The crime that we’ve committed is that we had courage to openly say that abortion is equal to killing a man,” said priest Marek Gancarczyk, editor in chief of Gosc Niedzielny. (mg/pg)