Our shared effectiveness in defending life, family, and freedom is recognized not only in Poland. This is why the ranks of the Friends and Donors of Ordo Iuris are growing, thanks to whom we can undertake bold plans and carry out even the most difficult projects—all the way to a successful conclusion. On the other hand, this effectiveness provokes further attacks on the Ordo Iuris Institute’s activities.
The world recognizes the effectiveness of Ordo Iuris
Some of those attacks can be considered expressions of recognition and respect. That’s how I view the book—promoted in 2025 by The New York Times—by the American left-wing author Katherine Stewart, who warns about the growing power of conservatives in the U.S. and, in Europe, sees a threat in the influence and effectiveness of the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture.
Similar recognition came from the Polish weekly Newsweek, which featured Ordo Iuris on its cover twice and called us the “driving force of an ideological revolution,” writing that “the influence of Ordo Iuris can be seen everywhere.” Even the European Parliament spoke about us in a similar vein; in two resolutions, it described Ordo Iuris as the “driving force” behind projects such as “attempts to introduce a ban on abortion and calls for Poland to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention.”
Alarm at the effectiveness of Ordo Iuris was also expressed in the report of the left-wing European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, which cites Ordo Iuris as many as 69 times and considers us one of the two most important and most influential “anti-gender think tanks in Europe.”
Other attacks on the Ordo Iuris Institute are, however, brutal attempts to undermine Ordo Iuris’s credibility, which is essential for effectively influencing public opinion, the actions of the authorities, and the rulings of courts and tribunals.
A Polish court siding with the liars!
In July this year the Regional Court in Warsaw sided with the slanderers who publicly accused us of alleged financial ties with Russia. The judge made that decision, even though pro-abortion activist Marta Lempart openly admitted that there is no direct evidence of funds flowing from Russia to Ordo Iuris. Another initiator of the radically pro-abortion “Women’s Strike,” who is the author of a conspiracy-theory book about Ordo Iuris, admitted exactly the same thing in the courtroom!
The court did not find that the allegations were true; rather, it held that Marta Lempart may attack Ordo Iuris with unverified gossip only because she is supposedly a minor social activist, whereas we are a large organization of professionals…
Our attorneys filed an appeal from this adverse judgment.
Liars apologize for their slander.
Earlier, among those who had to apologize for their words were the Mielec councilor Magdalena Weryńska-Zarzecka, as well as Elżbieta Podleśna (known for a campaign of putting up images of Our Lady of Częstochowa with a “rainbow halo”) and the MP from The Left Anna Maria Żukowska (the verdict in her case is not yet final). Corrections regarding Ordo Iuris appeared in media such as the websites of TVN 24 television, Radio Zet and Radio Tok FM, as well as outlets like WP, Onet, Polityka, Newsweek, Na Temat and Gazeta Wyborcza, all left-liberal media outlets. The last one, Gazeta Wyborcza, was forced after our intervention to remove false articles by Tomasz Piątek that, to this day, are one of the main sources of the absurd lies repeated about us.
I believe that, in the end, the remaining slanderers—against whom proceedings for violation of the good name of Ordo Iuris are pending—will also be forced to apologize for their attacks on Ordo Iuris: Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski, Women’s Strike activist Marta Lempart, Women’s Strike activist Klementyna Suchanow, alongside left-liberal politician and LGBT activist Paweł Rabiej.
We will steadfastly defend the Ordo Iuris Institute’s good name, because this fight is not just about our reputation. This is also a fight for the truth—because Polish families stand behind Ordo Iuris!
If we can secure a series of final judgments confirming that the allegations are false, we will be able to defend ourselves more effectively, allowing us to continue defending life, marriage, family, and freedom at home and abroad.
We reveal the truth about the funding of Ordo Iuris
I must also admit that I am particularly angered by the questioning of the special role of our Donors and Friends. The truth is simple: all our work is made possible by the generosity of Polish families and small business owners, who, through their giving, join in the Ordo Iuris Institute’s mission.
To counter the smears, Monika Leszczyńska—the vice president of Ordo Iuris for membership—gave an interview to the weekly Do Rzeczy, explaining how Ordo Iuris obtains funding for its operations.
We have also prepared an accessible infographic containing specific data (in Polish) on the Ordo Iuris Institute’s sources of funding. On it, we inform, among other things, that:
– 95% of the Ordo Iuris Institute’s revenue comes from Polish donors, and 5 percent from foreign donors (mainly Poles from the USA and Canada);
– 99.1% of our funds come from donations;
– exactly 0% of our funds come from public subsidies and grants or from foundations affiliated with foreign governments and political parties;
– a significant source of our funding is the Circle of Friends of Ordo Iuris, to which about 5,000 people belong today;
– In total, 21,603 people supported us last year.
We call for transparency in the funding of non-governmental organizations.
We have long been strong advocates for transparency in the funding of civil society organizations. We lead by example, publishing on our website not only financial statements but also extensive additional information.
We regularly call for increased transparency in the funding of non-governmental organizations. We called for this in a recent opinion submitted to the European Commission as part of the public consultation on the EU Strategy for Civil Society, as well as in an opinion that was submitted to the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Democracy in connection with the process of amending the recommendation on the legal status of civil society organizations.
The complete financial independence of Ordo Iuris from politicians and global business is the real source of the hatred that left-wing politicians, activists, and commentators regularly direct at us.
They hate us for our effectiveness
But where is such an intensity of attacks coming from now? The answer doesn’t surprise me.
Recent months have shown that, in times of particular challenges to life, family, and freedom, the Ordo Iuris Institute has expanded its activities, demonstrating exceptional effectiveness.
Our experts’ work contributed to President Andrzej Duda blocking the censorious “hate speech bill.” Education Minister Barbara Nowacka was forced to abandon the compulsory depraving of children in comprehensive sex education classes. To date, those in power have also failed to pass any of the pro-abortion bills or any bill on same-sex civil partnerships.
A series of legal and communications measures forced Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski to back down from implementing a ban on displaying crosses in Warsaw city offices. We contributed to his defeat in the presidential election as well, by reaching over a million Poles with our campaign about the true views of the ruling party’s candidate, for which his campaign staff threatened us with taking the matter to the prosecutor’s office.
We have published the report “Poland. Reactivation,” which outlines the policy framework for rebuilding the Polish state after Donald Tusk’s tenure, as well as the report “ The Great Reset. The Urgent Need for Reform of the European Union”,” which we translated into English, Hungarian, French, and Spanish, and presented in Washington, Budapest, Warsaw, Madrid, and Brussels, with plans to present it soon in Paris and Rome.
We highlighted the risks related to the reform of the EU treaties, we signed documents establishing an Ordo Iuris branch in Africa, and our representatives personally took part in the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York, where we were the only organization from Europe within the coalition of defenders of life and family that helped block pro-abortion proposals in the conference’s closing declaration.
More than half a million signatures were submitted to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in support of a bill drafted by Ordo Iuris lawyers that safeguards the place of catechesis in the education system. Our experts convinced the Sejm Committee on Petitions to refer our bill banning transition-related mutilation of children for further parliamentary proceedings. Our draft anti-pornography bill, for which we previously collected over 212,000 signatures, was unanimously supported by all political parties and referred to parliamentary committees for further work.
Powerful lobbyists want to silence us
It is therefore no surprise that the lobbyists who promote radical ideologies have for years sought to destroy Ordo Iuris.
I remember clearly how five years ago 38 left-wing Members of the European Parliament signed an unprecedented demand to delist the Ordo Iuris Institute from the European Union’s Transparency Register, in which we are listed as one of the few civil society organizations defending life and the family at the EU level.
In turn, in 2023 the biggest global lobbyists for gender ideology and abortion — including ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association), which brings together over 600 organizations from 90 countries; the global giant Planned Parenthood, which operates hundreds of abortion clinics; and the Center for Reproductive Rights foundation, which has been behind the global abortion movement for 30 years — petitioned the European Commission to exclude the Ordo Iuris Institute from participating in the work of committees monitoring the spending of EU funds in Poland.
The global magnates of abortion and gender ideology also demanded that the UN remove us from the prestigious list of organizations holding consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council.
In this light, it was a minor inconvenience that left-wing activists twice caused the termination of our office lease in Brussels.
Although each of these battles was a classic David-and-Goliath clash, every time we managed to fend off the attacks and withstand repeated attempts to block our work. Each victory strengthened our position, to the point that today similar attacks no longer occur.
All the more, we must safeguard our reputation and credibility in the face of the absurd and harmful allegations of Polish abortion activists.
Radicals are afraid of the Ordo Iuris community. Together we’ll withstand their attacks.
When, at the beginning of Ordo Iuris’s operations, we decided to forgo applying for any public grants, co-financing, or subsidies, it seemed that our firm stance on this matter carried a significant risk.
Today—when many organizations close to us are having to shut down due to persecution by Donald Tusk’s government—it is clear that this decision was the right one. No one can silence us by simply cutting off funding.
And that’s exactly why our powerful opponents fight us so fiercely, trying to block our work in many different ways. This shows how afraid they are of our effectiveness.
The fear of our opponents is the greatest compliment and proof that we are using the funds we receive from our donors in the best possible way.
Adv. Jerzy Kwaśniewski – President of Ordo Iuris.
Source of cover photo: Ordo Iuris
