FEDERATION ACTIVITIES

The Federation defends women's reproductive rights through lobbying and advocacy activities aimed at:

• raising awareness and initiating activities concerning reproductive rights and health;
• reintroducing safe and legal abortion;
• legalizing voluntary sterilization as a contraceptive method;
• improving access to family planning information and services;
• promoting sex education;
• promoting patients' rights and partnership model of relations between medical personnel and clients;
• supporting initiatives to improve the quality of health care for women;
• promoting the concept of health as well-being and as a human right based on WHO definition adopted by the ICPD and FWCW.

Advocacy activities for reproductive health and rights:

• monitoring of the observance of women's reproductive rights;
• producing reports on women's reproductive rights and health, the results of which are broadly publicized in the media, among politicians, decision-makers and NGOs. Recent Federation reports (1994, 1996) on the effects of the restrictive anti-abortion law on women played a significant role in liberalizing abortion regulations in 1996. In 1997, the Federation produced a report on women's reproductive health in Poland. (Reports)
• initiating media campaigns (through reports, press conferences, fact sheets, press releases, open letters, etc.) on legalization of abortion and sterilization as methods of family planning, introducing sex education at schools, subsidies for contraceptives for poor women, etc.
• encouraging individuals to actively support our campaigns through the Federation's bulletin (4 issues/year) and workshops for reproductive health and rights advocates organized for the Federation's local supporters.
• promoting international standards concerning human rights in the area of women's reproductive health and rights.
• advocating for implementation of the commitments made by the Polish Government during international conferences, such as the Cairo Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women, and other human rights mechanisms ratified by Poland.
• cooperating with other NGOS in various national and international networks and coalitions, including the Polish Committee of NGOs--Beijing '95 and HERA (Health, Empowerment, Rights, Accountability).