Contact: Don Feder, World Congress of Families, 508-405-1337

MEDIA ADVISORY, Apr. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Allan Carlson, founder and international secretary of the World Congress of Families, called a pro-abortion decision of the European Court of Human Rights, "both an attack on Polish sovereignty and the Polish family."

Late last week, the court held that Poland had violated the rights of a woman who wanted an abortion because she suffers from severe myopia and believed a continuation of pregnancy could put her eyesight at risk.

The court cited Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, concerning a person's "right to respect for private life."

"Article 8 doesn't mention pregnancy or abortion," Carlson commented. "Like the U.S., Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, the European Court of Human Rights has created a 'right' out of thin air."

Carlson observed: "The European bureaucracy is controlled by the left and is eager to force its anti-family agenda on the continent's more conservative countries. In 2004, the UN Human Rights Committee issued non-binding recommendations stating that Poland should liberalize its abortion law. To buttress its decision, the court cited these non-binding recommendations."

"With birthrates falling across the continent, you'd think the Euro-bureaucracy would be more concerned with encouraging large families and staving off demographic winter. But they will allow nothing to stand in the way of forcing their agenda – including abortion on demand, special homosexual rights and the suppression of religious values – on more conservative countries."

Carlson said: "This ill-considered judgment of the European Court of Human Rights validates our decision to hold World Congress of Families IV (Warsaw, May 11-13) among the brave people of Poland. The pro-life, pro-family values of its government and people are a beacon of hope on a continent where darkness is closing in."

Poland's pro-life president, Lech Kaczynski, will serve as honorary patron of the Congress and make the opening address.

The World Congress of Families supports the sanctity of human life, "from conception to natural death."

For more information on World Congress of Families IV (May 11-13) go to www.worldcongress.org.  To schedule an interview with Dr. Carlson, contact Don Feder at (508) 405-1337.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, and leaders that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society.  The WCF (with its headquarters in Rockford, IL) was founded by Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center, in 1997.  To date, there have been three World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999) and Mexico City (2004). WCF IV will be in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007.