Apr 16, 2025
Notes from Poland
The Polish Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (PTGiP) has called on the health ministry to clarify the legal interpretation of abortion regulations following a controversial case involving the termination of a pregnancy at 36 weeks.
In a letter to health minister Izabela Leszczyna, dated 10 April, the society requested confirmation of how the phrase “termination of pregnancy” should be interpreted in cases where the mother’s life or health is at risk.
Aug 31, 2024
Notes from Poland
Poland’s government has published guidelines for when and how abortions can be carried out, with the aim of ensuring that doctors and prosecutors “take the women’s side” when making decisions on the issue.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk – who last week admitted that it is unlikely he can achieve his aim of liberalising the country’s strict abortion law – declared today that “if we won’t change the law, we will change the reality”.
“We are looking for ways of acting that, in accordance with the law, will enable in practice access to legal abortion for women who, for various reasons, should have the right to this abortion,” he added.
By The Associated Press
August 30, 2024
WARSAW, Poland -- Seeking to ease access to abortion for women needing to end a pregnancy for health reasons, Poland's government is issuing guidelines to doctors Friday that reaffirm the legality of such procedures, based on medical recommendations.
Under the current law, abortions for health reasons are permitted but the previous conservative government limited some other qualifying circumstances, leading to mass street protests and heightening the reluctance of doctors to expose themselves to a possible prosecution.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk has resorted to stopgap measures to placate women's rights activists after he was unable to fulfill his promise to liberalize the country's restrictive abortion law.
Monika Margraf in Warsaw
Aug 17, 2024
"I remember when only 50 people came to my protests in defense of women's rights in 2016," said Anna Sikora. "After four years, almost 2,000 people took part in the protests. Most of them also took part in the last parliamentary elections as I called on them to do."
Sikora, a mother of two from the central city of Sieradz, is a left-wing activist and local leader of women's protests that have swept Poland and mobilized women against the Catholic-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), which led the country from 2016 to 2023. Their hopes for changes to the abortion law made the party's electoral defeat possible in fall of 2023.
Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/polish-activists-say-new-abortion-guidelines-not-good-enough/a-69964722
Aug 12, 2024
Zuzanna Stawiska, Health Policy Watch
Nearly a year after new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised a fresh start for abortion rights, following his election victory in October 2023, reform efforts have stalled as campaign promises collide with the realities of coalition politics in a divided Poland.
Poland is amongst only four countries worldwide to have restricted abortion rights in the past three decades, joining El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the United States. In 2020, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, stacked with judges appointed by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, further tightened the country’s already strict 1993 abortion law.
JUN 18, 2024
Notes from Poland
A hospital has been fined for refusing to provide a legal abortion in the first such case since the government recently introduced a requirement for publicly funded medical centres to offer such procedures.
Health minister Izabela Leszczyna announced on Monday that the Pabianice Medical Center was fined 550,000 zloty (€126,300). She revealed that audit proceedings regarding two other medical facilities are also in the “final stages” and that they are also likely to be penalised.
Rob Picheta, CNN
Thu April 11, 2024
Poland is debating changes to its near-total abortion ban on Thursday, re-opening one of the country’s thorniest social and political debates in an effort to overhaul some of the strictest laws on reproductive rights in Europe.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party has proposed changing the law – which currently prohibits terminations in almost all cases – to allow for abortions up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/11/europe/poland-abortion-debate-tusk-intl/index.html
The Associated Press
March 29, 2024
WARSAW, POLAND - Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on Friday vetoed a law that would have allowed over-the-counter access to the morning-after pill for girls and women ages 15 and above, his office said. Duda said he was concerned about the health of minors and heeding the voices of parents.
A statement by Duda’s office said the president sent the law back to the parliament, but was open to a debate on free access to the hormonal contraception pill for those aged 18 and above.
Reproductive rights dominate pre-election debate in Poland after reports of law enforcement targeting women for suspected abortions.
BY WOJCIECH KOŚĆ
JULY 27, 2023
WARSAW — The political row over sexual and reproductive rights in Poland has reignited after local media reported Wednesday that a woman who miscarried had her house’s cesspit drained in search of the fetus on orders of a prosecutor seeking to find out if the miscarriage was in fact an abortion.
The report is the latest in a series of high-profile incidents concerning Polish authorities’ heavy-handedness around abortion laws and has sparked public outcry ahead of the country’s general election in October.
Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-abortion-probe-outrage-prosecutors-drain-cesspit/
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