Poland: ravages of restrictions on access to abortion

Since January 2021, at least three women died following a refusal of therapeutic abortion. Two years after its entry into force, the law is in contradiction with the convictions of 70 % of the population.

by Hélène Bienvenu (Warsaw, Correspondence)

Almost two years have passed since abortion is no longer legal in the event of serious fetal malformations, in Poland, leading to the quasi-prisoner of the voluntary pregnancy interruption (abortion) in the country.

On January 27, 2021, the judgment of the Constitutional Court, which had provoked monster demonstrations throughout the country in the fall of 2020, entered into force, forcing 90 % of abortion hitherto practiced to join the “clandestinity “. Faced with a fait accompli – and the impossibility of legalization of abortion by the ultra -conservatives in place since 2015 in Warsaw -, the mobilization of the street has weakened. But organizations that facilitate access to abortion in the country, as outside its borders, are more than ever asked.

In two years, at least three women, who should have benefited from a therapeutic abortion, have perished. This is the figure that Kamila Ferenc, assistant director of the Polish foundation for women and for family planning (Federa), advances. Most have experienced a septic shock. Like Izabela, a 30 -year -old mother who died in September 2021 in a hospital in the south of the country. The nursing staff had refused to intervene as long as the heart of the fetus was still beating.

Several institutions, such as Human Rights Watch or the European Parliament, were worried about the repercussions on the health of Polish but also Ukrainian women, Poland being the first host country for war refugees in Ukraine.

“The fact of treating abortion as a crime with a few rare exceptions led doctors to believe that they would better refrain from practicing,” said Kamila Ferenc. “The interruption of pregnancy in the event of danger to the life of the mother is however still authorized. However, some doctors do not rely on the law but that the government thinks of the law,” argues the lawyer. The paralyzing effect among gynecologists is also such that the requests of the world with professionals have remained unanswered.

attest to degraded mental health

Prochoix organizations are therefore now obliged to adopt bypass strategies. Federa has for example constituted a network of gynecologists ready to carry out abortions and to respect the opinions of psychiatrists attesting to degraded mental health, likely to endanger the health of their patient, that is one of the reasons for abortion Still legal in the country – with pregnancy resulting from rape or incest. “We rely on a minority of professionals, but this is the only action that we can carry out, in addition to disseminating information as to the possibilities of abortion and to file a complaint with the European Court of Rights of the Man for operations refused in Poland. “

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/Media reports cited above.