Abortion in Poland: the opposition denounces “a pregnancy register” introduced by the authorities – Le Monde

Poland, a predominantly Catholic country, has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. CZAREK SOKOLOWSKI / AP In Poland, the parliamentary opposition denounced, on Monday June 6, a government provision obliging general practitioners to register pregnancies in a digital medical register, which could provide, according to it, “a new tool of repression” towards women, in a country where abortion is practically forbidden. By virtue of an order from the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, information concerning pregnancy must appear in this register alongside information on past or current illnesses, medical examinations, treatments or blood type. According to the ministry, such information will enable any doctor to help patients. Conversely, Liberal MP Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz told the press that this register was born “to be able to persecute and control Polish women, to create a new tool of repression, (…) of political influence of the state on our lives, on our health. Read also Article reserved for our subscribers In Poland, large-scale demonstrations in tribute to a victim of the anti-abortion law “Interfering in the lives of women” “In another era, the transfer of such information into the system n ‘would not have given rise to concern, but in the current situation, for us it is an unequivocal signal of a new attempt by the State to interfere in the lives of women”, for his said Joanna Pietrusiewicz, the president of a foundation defending women’s rights, quoted by the daily Gazeta Wyborcza. In addition to medical personnel, access to the digital medical register can be obtained by the prosecution – currently controlled by the nationalist populists in power – by court order, in this country where violations of the rule of law have been noted on several occasions by European authorities. Read also Article reserved for our subscribers One year after the virtual ban on abortion in Poland, “abortion without borders” is thriving According to MP Katarzyna Lubnauer, “for six years, slice by slice, women’s reproductive rights have been restricted” in Poland. “First, we introduce emergency contraception on prescription (…), then in vitro fertilization is no longer financed by the state budget, (…) then comes this brutal verdict from the Constitutional Court”, which banned, in October 2020, abortion in the event of a serious malformation of the fetus. Under the law, a woman who performed a voluntary termination of pregnancy is not prosecuted, unlike the doctor who performed it or the people who helped her. Poland, a predominantly Catholic country, has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. Today, there are less than two thousand legal abortions a year in the country, according to official data. Feminist organizations also estimate that approximately 200,000 abortions are performed illegally or abroad each year. The World with AFP