Help for women or the Middle Ages? Abortion riot: Missing abortion pill – PRAVDA.sk

She also prepared an expert discussion on the topic of abortions in the parliament, which was a kind of warm-up round before the debate between Members in plenary.

Currently, a woman requesting an abortion has to wait 48 hours. These are designed so that she can rethink her decision. According to the bill on assistance to pregnant women, the deadline should be extended to 96 hours. However, OĽaNO has already announced that it will request a reduction to 72 hours, ie three days, in the amendment.

“The current 48-hour period for a woman to have enough time to make a decision proves to be absolutely unnecessary in practice,” said Miroslav Borovský, chief expert for gynecology and obstetrics. On the contrary, she claims to be “bullying”. “The woman must have proof in her hand that she sent the registered letter 48 hours before the procedure,” he notes.

Read more The message of the protesting women of Záborská: Don’t worry about our maternity wards

Together with the President of the Slovak Gynecological and Obstetrical Society Martin Redech and with the forensic doctor and lawyer Petr Kováč, they point out that the deadlines should be canceled. They steal from the time when the operation can be performed.

“Any obstacle that can hinder a woman’s decision is harmful. Abortion as such should be a last resort. Society should precede it with sex education, available contraception. And already, such an affordable and well-made abortion, “Redecha emphasized. “Personally, I say that it is a failure of society when even a single woman decides to have an abortion. But the company is obliged to create the conditions for it to be able to solve such a situation, “he added.

Representatives of human rights organizations and the Choice of Choice and Let’s Not Be Silent initiatives also point out that extending the deadline could directly endanger a woman’s life. Kováč adds that it is also torturous in the case of women who became pregnant during rape. “It’s beyond morality and ethics,” he stressed.

VIDEO: March for Reproductive Justice in Bratislava.

Middle Ages

Both Redech and Borovský talk about the Middle Ages. “We miss the issue of the abortion pill immensely. You know, in the 21st century, making an abortion by damaging the mother’s body is a disaster, “Borovský is angry. According to him, even at professional symposia, Slovak doctors cannot explain to colleagues from abroad why the possibility of drug abortion is not used.

In this context, Bittó Cigániková also added a story from her life. “The lady lost the twins and even in such a situation it was not possible to use a drug form of abortion. It is inhuman and cruel, “she said.

Gynecologist Petra Kovarovičová, one of the authors of an open letter to members of the National Council asking them not to vote for a bill to help pregnant women, says the standard does not reflect the reality in Slovak hospitals. “Experience from the surrounding states shows that the introduction of an abortion pill does not increase the number of abortions,” he warns.

In the debate, experts agreed that although the proposed law provides for the amendment of some decrees of the Ministry of Health, there is no guarantee that this will happen. In particular, it is a decree which essentially determines how the abortion itself is to be carried out. Kováč points out that the method currently used in Slovakia also endangers other pregnancies of women in the future.

In the second reading, Bittó Cigániková is going to get the possibility of using the so-called abortion pill. That is, drug abortion.

Who will sit?

Kováč points out that the proposed law brings a number of elements that complicate the situation. “A doctor for performing an illegal abortion is at risk of imprisonment for three to eight years,” Kováč says, adding that in such a situation, a large number of doctors will probably consider whether to perform the abortion.

And he immediately points out that not only doctors but also employees in pharmacies have a conscientious objection. While a doctor may refuse to perform an abortion because his conscience does not allow it, there have been cases where pharmacists have refused to sell contraception because their conscience does not allow it. “Contraception is also used in other indications. And the bill, for example, removes the obligation to teach women about methods of contraception, “warns Kováč.

Adriana Mesochoritisová from the Let’s Not Be Silent Initiative and sociologist Barbora Holubová from Choices recalls her recent survey among women. It shows that it is very difficult to get information on which devices can turn to in the event of an abortion. And it often happens that the facility does not provide this service, because it is not the doctor, but the management, respectively. management. It happens even in state facilities.

“It is as if the hospital management has decided to abolish hematology in the hospital because it belongs to the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Kováč said.

Both doctors and activists agreed that they saw no reason to collect data on women who had opted for abortion. They perceive an effort for the state to know the causes, but according to them this can also be found out by a general survey. MEP Bittó Cigániková pointed out that the data should be processed by the National Center for Health Information, “which has already leaked some information”. She thus pointed to two major leaks related to COVID-19.

Advertising or information?

What is and what is not advertising? Anna Záborská recently criticized facilities that advertised their services in an interview for Pravda, saying that they perform abortions without unnecessary questions.

In this context, pathologist and lawyer Kováč points out that any information about abortions could be understood as advertising under the new law. Even a catalog of medical tools. “I consider this ban nonsense, because it will not solve anything. A space for persecution will just be created, “says Kováč.

However, sociologist Holubová points out that many women already have problems obtaining information about abortions. Not to mention that in some regions, most of the mapped facilities refuse to provide legal abortion. According to her, the Prešov Region is proving problematic – out of 11 mapped facilities, up to eight rejected abortion, in Žilina it was four out of nine. Among the answers were the following: “We exercise our reservations of conscience. This has not been done in this hospital for four or five years, the doctors have decided to do so. “Or:” This is how the management decided, this is how the staff decided. ” We are a hospital where such things have not been done for twenty years. That’s an old thing. “

Two to four hundred

The abortion should cost € 248.95. However, Holubová draws other numbers. In the Bratislava Hospital of St. Abortion costs Michala 420 euros. In Levice it costs only a little less – 399 euros.

The price is also rising with tricks such as writing an application, for which they ask for 15 euros, or preoperative examinations – which is at least 30 euros. Holubová clarifies that abortion costs a woman 414 euros.

This also includes travel expenses – women have to travel a hundred, but also three hundred kilometers for the procedure.

SaS MP Bittó Cigániková says that if the amendments are not passed, she will not vote for the bill. Member of the Zuzana Šebová We Are Family movement has a similar opinion. Until SaS is likely to unite, We Family has released Záborská’s proposal for a second reading. Some MEPs have announced that they will have amendments. However, they could not concretize them.

In the second reading of the bill on assistance to pregnant women, the plenary is facing not only a sharp debate, but probably also an interesting vote.