THE EFFECTS OF THE ANTI-ABORTION LAW
IN FORCE IN POLAND SINCE MARCH - 16 - 1993

THE EXPERIENCES OF SOME WOMEN

The case of Grażyna Z.

   In spring 1995 one of Warsaw hospitals admitted a 41 year old woman living near the town of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki who was suspected of having a brain tumour. She was already a mother of 7 children. She had an encroaching paralysis and was in the eighth week of pregnancy. Doctors - surgeons and neurosurgeons issued a certificate that the pregnancy should be terminated because of the patients severe state. She was going to have an abortion.
   This information reached a priest who pressured both the woman and her husband not to terminate the pregnancy. The priest reported the information to the public prosecutor's office and the office got interested in how the information left the hospital (breach of confidentiality) and initiated investigation.
   Under the pressure of the priest the doctors involved met again. A new certificate was issued which stated that the pregnancy constitutes a threat to both the woman and the embryo but it also stated that the pregnancy does not have to be terminated.
   According to her husband both he and his wife wanted to abort the pregnancy. She knew she would never fully recover. When she learned that the doctors do not agree to the abortion she said that she did not agree on the operation. She was moved to a different Warsaw hospital. In the new hospital no one talked to her about pregnancy and she did not talk to anyone. The doctors diagnosed that she had a severe damage of the brain stem. She was given a treatment as if she was not pregnant: she was treated with antibiotics, radiation (computer examinations) and resonance (electromagnet).

Finally she was given a choice: she would either have an exploratory operation or would be discharged on her own responsibility. Thus, she was provoked to leave the hospital. In June she left it on her own request.
   In December 1995 she gave birth to the eighth child. Her state is permanently becoming worse. She cannot work at home or take care of her child. Her husband is taking care of her and the family and, thus, he cannot work outside home. The family is living on the verge of poverty.
   When asked about contraceptives the woman said that no one had ever talked to her about them. Only her first child was wanted. When she was pregnant with the last baby all the time she was scared that the child will be sick after all the treatment that she went through.
   'The doctors were scared to touch her. If she weren't pregnant other methods of treatment could have been used: radiotherapy operation but as it was they were waiting for her to die and thus to solve the problem herself', said her husband.

PS. Grażyna died several weeks after delivery.

The case of Joanna B.

   Joanna B. has very serious mental problems: strong depression accompanied by suicidal attempts. She has been treated with strong drugs for the last year and a half. The treatment was disrupted because she got pregnant. She received a referral to hospital to have an abortion because of the danger to her health and life which was signed by two psychiatrists.
   The first hospital which she was referred to refused to perform the abortion and she was treated in a humiliating way there. At the same time she was offered an abortion for large amount of money.
   She tried another hospital. The director of this hospital, in conversation with the guardian of the girl, did not unequivocally refuse to do the abortion, but he ordered to obtain another certificate that would include the word 'absolute' threat to life. After this conversation, Urszula Nowakowska of the Women's' Rights Centre and the author of this report went to talk to the director of the hospital. The conversation was very long but it did not bring concrete results. The director turned out to be against abortion altogether. He treated the certificate solely as an excuse. He did not even make an effort to examine the patient. He did not want to treat this case individually but he ascribed to it the features known to him from previous cases. When asked about the legal ground for questioning the certificate he referred to many examples of women who, according to him, were trying to have an abortion without sufficient reasons.
   At some moments he suggested that he was afraid of legal consequences of performing the abortion, that such a decision could cost him dearly. He said that if a nurse or an orderly informs on him (to the priest?) it could result in serious consequences.
   He even referred to his private life. He was wondering what he would do if his 13 year old granddaughter was raped, but he could not make up his mind. He talked about a case of a 13 year old pregnant girl, whom he also did not allow for the abortion.
   Our only success was that we managed to persuade him to do the ultra-sound examination to the girl. The doctor who did the examination said off the record that he did not share the opinion of his superior.
   When she noticed that her efforts in this hospital are hopeless, the patient went still to another one where one of the doctors, after long persuasions agreed to do the abortion.

   The whole experience lasted 4 weeks. During that time the woman did not take the drugs and she experienced serious decline in her health state.

The case of Anna S.

   In 1992 Anna S. had an outdated IUD inserted which resulted in pregnancy. In summer 1993 she had an illegal abortion for 500 USD which was accompanied by many problems (the coil was found damaged during the abortion).
   Finding a doctor who would do the abortion was not a problem. It was only a question of the price. The highest was 750 USD but in Brest one could have it for less than 200 USD.
   When all methods of contraceptives failed (Anna could not use the pill) the husband decided to have a vasectomy. Sterilization is illegal in Poland. It took one year and a half to have this done. During all that time they were not having sex life out of fear. Finally they found a urologist who performed the vasectomy for USD 500. But the operation was only partial. The doctor who had to do everything on his own, operated one sperm duct only. In the second attempt he operated the other sperm duct. But the examination afterward showed that the patient is still fertile. The third time he went to the hospital for two days. The operation was carried out with full operating staff. In order for the intervention to be carried out officially the man was issued a certificate to have an opposite intervention of recanulating the sperm ducts, thus making him fertile again. Obviously all the staff - from nurses to the main operating doctor knew what operation was really being carried out.

The case of a doctor from Warsaw

   A pregnant doctor had a cervical erosion cauterised which resulted in the damage of the cervix; bleeding and miscarriage started. She went to a number of hospitals, where the doctors refused to perform abortion saying that she did the intervention herself with a sharp tool. Finally, one hospital did admit her and performed the abortion.