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

Present accessibility of abortion in Poland

   The law on family planning, human embryo protection and conditions of legal abortion, commonly known as anti-abortion law, has been in force in Poland since March 1993. According to the law abortion is legal in the following cases only:

1. when pregnancy constitutes a threat to life or a serious threat to the health of the mother, which is confirmed by two doctors other than the doctor involved in the abortion,
2. prenatal examination, confirmed by two doctors other than the doctor involved in the abortion indicate heavy, irreversible damage of the embryo,
3. there is justified suspicion, confirmed by a prosecutor, that the pregnancy is a result of an illegal act.

The doctor who performs illegal abortion is subject to the punishment of up to two years of prison.
Any abortion must be performed in a public hospital.

Regulations in other countries

   Polish abortion law belongs to the most restrictive ones in Europe. In definite majority of European countries abortion is accessible on woman's request. Even in those countries where accessibility of abortion is limited it is still more accessible than in Poland. In Spain, Portugal and Switzerland abortion is legal when pregnancy constitutes a threat to the life or health of the woman, including the threat to her mental health , as well as when the pregnancy is the result of rape or other sexual crimes and in the case of embryo damage. In Hungary abortion is legal additionally in case when a woman has difficult life conditions. Only Ireland has a more restrictive law than Poland. Abortion is legal in Ireland when the woman's life is threatened, including a situation when there is danger of suicide.
   Outside Europe, abortion is accessible on request in the USA, Canada, post-Soviet countries, China, Mongolia, Singapore. Abortion is available in case of a difficult personal situation in six countries of Africa, in Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, Korea and Malasia.

The effects of anti-abortion act

   The introduction of the anti-abortion act immediately produced the effects that were easy to predict. Those effects were described in the first report by the Federation for Women and Family Planning prepared in May 1994⁽¹⁾.
   Facts that were observed in 1994 still exist today.
   Women in difficult personal situation seek the termination of unwanted pregnancy at all costs, regardless of the fact that they break the law, often risking their health or life.

Illegal abortions

   The anti-abortion law is not observed and, moreover, it results in various abnormal phenomena. One of them is the existence of illegal abortions performed by means of "abortion underground" and "abortion tourism".

Abortion underground

   The underground abortion services are highly developed. This is evident from:

• Abundant advertisements of individual doctors and cooperatives that for the last two years have regularly been placed in both national and local press: "Gynaecological services - full range". Recently new advertisements can be found like: "Gynaecologist - everything (the cheapest)" or "Gynaecologists - absolutely everything" etc.

Permanent and regular appearance of those announcements and their growing number constitute an indirect proof of an existing and growing demand for this type of services.

• Testimonies of many women given to the Federation or published in mass media. Women who have used or wanted to use those services are a source of information on their average prices. It is estimated that the average price for an abortion is 400 USD⁽²⁾. Some doctors, however, and particularly some doctors' cooperatives collect much more: 600 USD - 800 USD. In Warsaw prices are much higher than anywhere else in Poland.

It seems that abortion services are performed mainly in big cities; in smaller ones the doctors are too scared of getting caught. They decide to do abortion on women whom they know or who have been sent to them by their acquaintances and their decision is often spurred by humanitarian reasons and not only financial interests.

• The existence of underground abortion services is also confirmed by some doctors. An example is a statement of an anonymous doctor who said, answering in a poll conducted by Polish most popular daily Gazeta Wyborcza⁽³⁾: "I have been performing abortions for a year. In our cooperative there are only two doctors who do it, the rest are scared. But you cannot send away a despairing woman. This is how I understand the Hippocratic Oath. Underground abortions? They flourish - and not due to old women, who use crochet hook and herbal brew. Polish underground abortions are performed in sterile conditions and by people wearing white uniforms."

• The presence of abortion underground is also confirmed by the government report that informed about several dozen investigations and legal cases initiated in reference to these services.

Abortion tourism

   Abortion tourism is also highly developed.
   Most women go to Poland's East and South neighbouring countries, e.g. to Lvov (Ukraine), Druskienniki (Lithuania), Kaliningrad (Russia), Minsk (Bielorus), to Czech Republic and Slovakia. Polish media repeatedly informed about abortion trips to Kaliningrad ⁴⁾. The cost of abortion there is comparatively low (200 USD), but the sanitary conditions are bad and women often suffer medical complications.
   Much fewer women can afford to seek abortion in Western countries. The abortions performed there are much more expensive but the medical services are of much better quality. Polish women most frequently go to Holland, Germany, Belgium and Austria. In one of the Berlin clinics of family planning we were told that their centre is visited by 15 Polish women a week. The price depends on how advanced the pregnancy is and on the type of anaesthesia (from 400 through 1,300 USD).

   The Federation possesses the materials provided by an anonymous agency which was organising abortion trips to one of Polish southern neighbours. The agency started its service "immediately after the Code of Medical Ethics ⁵⁾ came into force. It was that early that Polish doctors were threatened and refused to perform abortions. Before the anti-abortion law came into force we performed circa 20 abortions. After the anti-abortion law came into force for 2 or 3 months the doctors were so scared that they refused to do any abortions. (...) The greatest demand for our services existed in 1993, in the first 3 months after the law came into force. At that time in one of the neighbouring countries we could use the services of 2 private doctor's surgeries, one private clinic, 2 state hospitals, 6 gynaecologists, 3 anaesthesiologists and several nurses and we facilitated about 220-250 abortions. Later in 1993 we helped perform on average 60-70 abortions a month. In 1994 we facilitated on average 40-50 abortions a month. In this period we facilitated in total 1200 abortions. The demand for these services is seasonal, most are performed in spring and autumn."

   The existence of abortion tourism has brought about the following legal proceedings so far:

• - Arkadiusz G. from Cieszyn was convicted after he was arrested and held in prison for several months, on the basis of recordings obtained by means of bugging his room which was done on the order of public prosecutor's office; many lawyers question whether the bug was legal. ⁶⁾
• - Jerzy T. from Lublin was prosecuted for organising abortion trips to Ukraine ⁷⁾; The case was formally reported by the Lublin branch of Responsible Parenthood Society. The public prosecutor ordered bugging of his telephone conversations and on this basis he prepared the prosecution act. Jerzy T. was accused of "organising" 14 abortions in Lvov hospital ⁸⁾
• - Polish anti-abortion law has effects also outside Poland. Peter Sz., former director of a hospital in Cieszyn in the Czech Republic was accused of performing abortions on 15 Polish women. The Czech law does not allow to perform abortion on foreigners. In this case two Polish men from Cracow are being prosecuted for advertising the abortions in Polish press. ⁹⁾