Carlos Polo is one of the leading pro-lifers in Latin America. He is also the Director of the PRI Office for Ibero-America, located in Lima, Peru. And, not least, he is one of the most feared opponents of Planned Parenthood and other groups trying to force abortion on Peru.
That’s why a pro-abortion non-governmental organization (NGO) went to court to try and silence him—and us. PROMSEX, as the NGO calls itself, demanded that the Constitutional Court of Peru stop Carlos Polo from criticizing the pro-abortion movement.
They tried to sue him into silence. It didn’t work.
The case began almost eight years ago when Catholic News Agency – Aciprensa published a report entitled “Planned Parenthood Invested 3 Million Dollars To Promote Abortion In Peru.” Based on PRI’s research, the report read:
According to documentation obtained by ACI Prensa from the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI), the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its parent company, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), allocated $3,002,257 to three non-governmental organizations based in Peru: The Peruvian Institute of Responsible Paternity (INPPARES), an official branch of the IPPF, the abortion organization Catholics for the Right to Decide and the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (PROMSEX).
The numbers in the ACIPRENSA article, which appeared on July 23, 2015, came straight from the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation, a public entity that controls and supervises the flow of money coming from abroad to Peruvian NGOs.
The pro-aborts didn’t like being exposed in this way, but what they really didn’t like were Carlos Polo’s comments. For Carlos condemned—in no uncertain terms—both Peru’s pro-abortion lobby and the financial support that the lobby receives from Planned Parenthood in the United States.
These programs damage Peruvian women, families, and children, Polo pointed out. As far as the employees of these three groups that promote them are concerned, they are nothing more than “salaried employees who corrupt local authorities in order to enjoy these substantial funds,” he said.
This was all true, of course, but these baby-destroying organizations cannot abide the light. They decided this prominent pro-life leader had to be silenced at all costs. Pro-lifers like Carlos Polo had to be taught not to speak ill of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and aggressive lobbies in the world.
PROMSEX did not wait long to strike. Eleven days after the report appeared, notarized letters were sent to both Polo and Aciprensa demanding that they issue a public rectification “for the sake of truth and defense of the honor” of PROMSEX itself. How dare you call us “corrupt,” the group shrieked.
In pursuing the case against Carlos Polo, PROMSEX brought out the big guns. Samuel Abad, the lead counsel who argued the group’s case before the Constitutional Court, has made a career out of suing on behalf of left-wing governments and organizations. He serves as PROMSEX’s legal advisor on the issue of abortion. His wife, Violeta Bermúdez, is a prominent feminist in Peru. Together, this power couple is the most prominent advocate of the Culture of Death in the country.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs demanded “rectification,” which is to say, “The equitable remedy of correcting of mistakes.”
In swatting away the lawsuit, the Peruvian Constitutional Court found that Carlos Polo’s comments contained no “mistakes” to “rectify”.
“According to article 6 of the aforementioned Law 26775, rectification «in no case can include value judgments or opinions». Thus, to the extent that the plaintiff asks the defendant Carlos Enrique Polo Samaniego to rectify an opinion, the tort is not credited to the right of rectification, so the claim must be dismissed,” the Court’s opinion read.
Case dismissed.
Words matter
PROMSEX had argued that, by saying that it and its employees were “corrupt,” Carlos was accusing them of bribery. They demanded that he produce documentary evidence of money changing hands.
Carlos Polo responded by providing evidence that pro-abortion campaigns in Peru were heavily funded by groups in the United States. Money was changing hands—lots of it.
Next, he delivered a body blow to their argument. Peruvian authorities should themselves question this funding since PROMSEX’s support of legal abortion has nothing to do with humanitarian aid or with the goals of international cooperation. Moreover, the majority of Peruvians oppose such programs.
Finally, Carlos Polo delivered the knockout punch. “Those groups which promote abortion, like PROMSEX, are paid employees who corrupt local authorities to enjoy these substantial funds”. but No one in the past had dared to call out the powerful abortion movement in Peru over its foreign funding, even though the evidence is there for everyone to see.
Victory for Free Speech
The importance of the Peruvian Court’s decision cannot be overstated. It means that pro-lifers in Peru—and arguably in other Latin American countries—can no longer be muzzled by threats of lawsuits.
They are free to exercise their fundamental right to free speech.
They will be free to speak bluntly about abortion procedures and identify those who defend, promote, finance, and perform them.
When it comes to important issues before the public, the decision makes clear that the government has an obligation to allow various ideas and opinions to be heard.
PROMSEX has no right to sue Carlos Polo to stop him from saying things and sharing information that PROMSEX does not like or doesn’t want the public to know. If PROMSEX receives millions in funding from the abortion industry’s leading transnational organization—and it does–the public has a right to know.
In suing Carlos, the pro-abortionists’ goal was to shut down free and open debate on the abortion question. By extension, they hoped to set a precedent for censoring and silencing the entire international pro-life movement.
They did not succeed.
Carlos Polo will continue his three-decade-long effort to protect Life in the Americas and Europe, confronting the evil of abortion wherever he finds it.
PRI will continue its successful efforts to choke off the funding to organizations that promote, perform, or lobby for the legalization of abortion overseas, efforts that have cost them many hundreds of millions of dollars to date.
And we say to all pro-life activists worldwide: redouble your efforts! Proclaim the Culture of Life! Denounce the manipulations of the Culture of Death and its malevolent controllers wherever you find them!
In the words of Saint John Paul II, “Be not afraid!”
