Why changing the constitution doesn’t guarantee access to abortion in France

As commentators hail France's decision to protect abortion rights within its constitution as a legal milestone, healthcare workers warn that having the right to an abortion and having access to one remain two different things.

March 9, 2024
Jessica Phelan with RFI

"Enshrining this right in the constitution makes it practically untouchable," declared long-time women's rights activist and former leftwing MP Danielle Bousquet, speaking to RFI on the day that both houses of the French parliament approved the move.

Article 34 of the charter now states: "The law determines the conditions by which the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed, is exercised."

Continued: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20240309-why-changing-the-constitution-doesn-t-guarantee-access-to-abortion-in-france

Poland shows the difficulties of trying to reverse an abortion ban

By Kate Brady and Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post
January 27, 2024

PRENZLAU, Germany — Only 30 miles separate the two clinics where gynecologist Maria Kubisa works, but what’s legal at her clinic on this side of the border would be criminal at the clinic back in Poland.

So women have been crossing over to seek help from Kubisa on this side, especially in the past three years, since a Polish court backed by a ring-wing government imposed a near-ban on abortion.

Unlocked: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/27/poland-abortion-12-weeks-donald-tusk/

Polish Left announces bills to liberalise abortion law on first day of new parliament

Notes from Poland
NOV 14, 2023

The Left (Lewica), which is part of the coalition likely to form Poland’s new government, announced two bills to liberalise the country’s strict abortion laws on the first day of parliament yesterday.

One would end the current near-total ban on abortion and instead introduce abortion on demand. The other would end the criminalisation of those who help women obtain abortions. However, it appears unlikely that the bills will enjoy support from more conservative elements of the new coalition.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/11/14/polish-left-announces-bills-to-liberalise-abortion-law-on-first-day-of-new-parliament/

How Religious Hospitals Block Access to Reproductive Care—Even in ‘Safe Haven’ States

10/5/2023
by REBECCA GIBRON

Most of us do not want a stranger’s ideology controlling our futures. If you live in a “blue” or “abortion haven” state, you may feel protected from abortion bans, but the truth is, your healthcare may be limited by the religious interests directing your local hospital.

Growing up in a religiously conservative family and now living in Idaho, I know how it feels to be hemmed in by someone else’s dogma. As CEO of the largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the country covering three “abortion haven” states and three states with extremist-backed abortion bans, I have a unique vantage point: I see the stark differences between them and troubling similarities threatening patients’ access to healthcare.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/10/05/religious-hospitals-abortion/

USA – ‘Conscience’ bills let medical providers opt out of providing a wide range of care

Carly Graf, KFF Health News
July 31, 2023

A new Montana law will provide sweeping legal protections to health care practitioners who refuse to prescribe marijuana or participate in procedures and treatments such as abortion, medically assisted death, gender-affirming care, or others that run afoul of their ethical, moral, or religious beliefs or principles.

The law, which goes into effect in October, will gut patients’ ability to take legal action if they believe they didn’t receive proper care due to a conscientious objection by a provider or an institution, such as a hospital.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/31/conscience-bills-healthcare-providers-not-give-medical-care/70470186007/

Poland – MPs who vote for abortion cannot receive holy communion, says head of Polish episcopate

JUN 22, 2023
Notes from Poland

Members of parliament who vote to allow abortion are “committing a grave sin and thus cannot receive holy communion”, the head of the Catholic church in Poland has warned.

His remarks come after all of Poland’s main opposition parties – most of whom have leaders who are practising Catholics – have expressed support for ending the current near-total ban on abortion, which is supported by the church.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/06/22/mps-who-vote-for-abortion-cannot-receive-holy-communion-says-head-of-polish-episcopate/

22.06.2023

Law and Justice party

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Thousands protest in Poland against strict abortion law after pregnant woman died of sepsis

By VANESSA GERA, Associated Press

June 14, 2023

WARSAW, Poland -- Thousands of people demonstrated across Poland on Wednesday against the country's restrictive abortion law after a woman who was five months pregnant died of sepsis, the latest such death since a tightening of the law.

The protesters vented their fury against the governing Law and Justice party, or PiS, and doctors who refuse to perform abortions even when a woman's life is at risk. There have been reported cases of hospitals that refused to terminate pregnancies because of the presence of a fetal heartbeat even when the women were in grave danger.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/abortion-rights-protests-planned-poland-after-death-pregnant-100063909

Outcry in Poland over abortion law

Two Polish hospitals refused to terminate the pregnancy of an underage rape victim. The case has sparked controversy over the country's restrictive legislation, with women's rights activists insisting it must be eased.

Jacek Lepiarz
February 5, 2023

A scandal is raging in Polish politics and in the media, concering the shocking case of a 14-year-old rape victim. The girl, who is from the Podlaskie region in northeastern Poland and has mental disabilities, was raped by her own uncle and became pregnant as a result. She was unaware of her condition, but her aunt noticed it and tried to help her get an abortion.

Although the girl had written confirmation from the public prosecutor that she was pregnant as the result of a crime, which gave her the right to a legal abortion, two hospitals in the region refused to carry out the procedure. The province of Podlaskie on the Belarusian border is a bastion of the right-wing conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has been in power in Poland since 2015.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/poland-outcry-over-abortion-law/a-64586531

Polish health minister ‘appalled’ girl, 14, struggled to get abortion after rape

Doctors at several hospitals cited a conscience clause to avoid treating the teenager who has a mental disability

Agence France-Presse in Warsaw
Mon 30 Jan 2023

Poland’s health minister has weighed in on a high-profile rape case, saying it was “unacceptable” that a mentally disabled 14-year-old girl struggled to get a legal abortion.

The case, in which doctors at several hospitals used a conscience clause to avoid carrying out the procedure, has sparked renewed calls to ease the Catholic country’s abortion laws, which are among Europe’s most stringent.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/30/polish-health-minister-appalled-girl-14-struggled-to-get-abortion-after

Disabled 14-year-old rape victim refused abortion in Poland by hospitals in her province

JAN 25, 2023
Notes from Poland

A 14-year-old disabled girl who became pregnant as a result of rape was refused an abortion by hospitals in her province, forcing her to travel across the country to the capital, Warsaw, to obtain a termination.

While doctors in Poland are allowed to refuse to perform an abortion under a so-called “conscience clause”, hospitals are required to inform patients where they can obtain a legal termination. In this case it appears that did not happen.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/01/25/disabled-14-year-old-rape-victim-refused-abortion-in-poland-by-hospitals-in-her-province/