On March 16, 1993, a new abortion law went into effect in Poland that further restricted the circumstances under which Polish women may legally seek abortion.142 In addition, the Polish criminal code was amended to impose a two-year sentence on anyone who participates in an abortion or otherwise terminates a pregnancy. This law explicitly exempts the woman carrying the fetus from criminal sanction. In July 1994 President Lech Walesa vetoed a parliament-approved measure that would have permitted abortions in cases of adverse social and administrative conditions.
Under the new law, public hospitals, but never private hospitals, may perform abortions if at least three doctors agree that the pregnancy is a serious danger to a woman's life or physical health; if a prosecutor finds that a pregnancy is the result of a crime; if tests (that run no risk of causing miscarriage) show a serious and irreversible genetic defect; or if in an emergency, a woman's life can be saved only by terminating her pregnancy.
Accounts indicate that the Polish government has not monitored the implementation of the anti-abortion act diligently to ensure that women's rights under this law are respected. A report issued by the Federation for Women and Family Planning recounts that many public service doctors, especially in small towns and villages, are unwilling to grant medical referrals authorizing abortions because the government has not issued precise guidelines on medical bases on which a women may lawfully receive an abortion. The report foundthat doctors outside of major urban areas seldom refer their patients for the prenatal tests necessary to prove genetic grounds for an abortion.143 Even more troubling, the federation is aware of cases where state prosecutors refused to refer women who reported becoming pregnant through rape for an abortion.144
In addition to the initial difficulty of receiving the necessary referrals for an abortion, women sometimes have experienced obstacles in actually getting the procedure performed. According to a ministry of health report, one woman was refused an abortion even though she possessed a Prosecution's Certificate of Offense and a history of three stillbirths from early pregnancy complications.145
These reports suggest that the Polish government in its efforts to restrict abortions is not meeting its obligations to ensure women the equal protection of the law. The Polish government must ensure that prosecutors and state doctors provide women with referrals for abortion when the circumstances meet the requirements of the law. In order to facilitate this process, the government should issue clear regulations and train doctors regarding specific medical grounds for abortion and prenatal tests. Officials who purposefully prevent women from accessing a medical procedure to which they are entitled by law should be disciplined. Moreover, the government should allow women's groups to advocate any position freely and peacefully regardless of whether or not such view contradicts official policy.
142 Article 1 of the Law on Family Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Admittance of Abortion reads: "1) Each human being has a right to life starting from conception. 2) The life and health of a child from the moment of its conception will remain under the protection of law." Article 2 explains that medical services will be provided to both the conceived child and the mother and also provide services "for solving psychological and social problems." Part of these services are to be provided by the Catholic Church.
143 Polish Committee of NGOs Beijing 1995, "The Situation of Women in Poland," 1995, p. 44.
145 Report of the Ministry of Health, Warsaw 1994.
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