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

Estimated number of abortions performed yearly

   On the basis of research done by the Federation it is possible to attempt to estimate the number of illegal abortions performed on Polish women both in and outside Poland.
   The data obtained confidentially from the above mentioned agency confirm that within two years it "organised" about 1,500 abortions. On the basis of press advertisements it was concluded that at least 20 similar agencies operate in Poland. Assuming that each agency facilitated on average at least 800 abortions the outcome is roughly 16,000 abortions performed yearly on Polish women abroad. One has to also take into account that a remarkable number of women living close to the border go to foreign clinics without the help of any agencies.
   Moreover, our research shows that in private doctors' surgeries in Poland at least two times more abortions are performed than abroad.
   In all, that makes roughly 40,000 - 50,000 abortions a year.

Unprofessionally performed abortions

   There are cases of the poorest, uneducated women who do not want to have a child and they decide on desperate acts.
   Information concerning such cases is difficult to obtain. For different reasons the health service informs only about the most severe cases. Doctors and other health service employees inform only anonymously that there are frequent cases of women who get to hospital to "finish off" an abortion which was started by artificial widening of the cervix, which led to infection and miscarriage. ¹⁰⁾ It is very rarely that an employee of health service, mentioning his or her name, tells about a case of home abortion. One of the exceptions is Ms Krystyna Tomaszewska, a midwife from Pabianice. She informed of a case of a 16-year old girl who got to a hospital after attempting an abortion herself with the application of two packages of laxatives. ¹¹⁾
   There are also particularly dramatic cases like the one of Ms Grayna X, mother of three children from the municipality of Staroreby, which was widely covered by press. She died as a result of injecting a large portion of penicillin to the uterus with the help of her husband. ¹²⁾ The husband will probably face legal consequences.

Other social consequences

The number of children abandoned by their mothers increased since the introduction of the act in 1993. ¹³⁾

The infanticide rate in last years is as follows ¹⁴⁾:

   The data on the babies abandoned by their mothers in hospitals are not regularly collected by the Ministry of Health. This data was collected only once in 1993 because of the Ministry's obligation to present a report on the implementation of the anti-abortion act. But the Ministry does not possess this data for 1994. In the previous years the statistics were the following.

Number of infants abandoned in hospitals in selected voivodships ¹⁵⁾:

Legal abortions

   The fearful phenomenon that was observed already in 1992, when the Code of Medical Ethics came into force, still exists:

   The anti-abortion law is much more restrictive in real life than on paper.
   Women who have right to legal abortion are often refused it even though they have all necessary certificates.
   This is a specifically Polish phenomenon and it results from the imperfect character of the anti-abortion law. The law allows for free interpretation of provisions regulating accessibility of legal abortion. Lack of mechanisms of control as well as "feudal" relations governing hospitals allow for situations when the director of the hospital on his own makes a decision to refuse the abortion and does not take into account the opinion of other doctors who, privately, have a different view on the issue. The conscience clause gives an individual doctor, not a whole hospital, the right to refuse to perform abortion. In other countries the question of refusal to do abortion on the ground of the clause of conscience is precisely described by law. It gives the doctor the right to refuse to perform the abortion but also provides for the woman's right to have an abortion. The doctor who refuses to do it is obliged to direct a woman to a doctor who will perform it. In Poland this issue has not been regulated.
   Moreover, the pressure from priests active in hospitals also has the influence on the issue. It happens very often that priests or other persons connected with the Roman-Catholic Church interfere. The best known example of the Church's interference within medical issue which led to the change of the doctors' initial decision is the case of Grayna Z. that is described later in the report.
   Observation shows that the doctors are afraid not only of priests but even of orderlies or nurses who may inform on the doctor. The Federation has obtained information on many cases in which the woman was not able to execute her right to abortion in the hospital.
   It happens that the director of the hospital who is responsible for the decision questions the certificate that was issued by other doctors, and thus, he questions their honesty and competence.
   The government report on implementation of the anti-abortion law does not mention this problem, since women do not report on doctors who refused to perform abortions. "The fact that patients do not lodge complaints the Ministry considers a proof that this right is recognised" ¹⁶⁾

The Federation is convinced that women do not lodge complaints to the Ministry of Health for the following reasons:

1. They often want to forget about the nightmare that they had to go through when they were trying to get an abortion: running around to find the doctor ready to perform the intervention or each day having new medical examinations which delay the abortion and give a pretext finally not to perform it because it is too late. Moreover this pretext is also illegal because it is not stated in the law that abortion cannot be performed after the 12th week of pregnancy. Women, however do not know about it and it never occurs to them that they could make a complaint.
2. They are afraid of being "caught" and prosecuted; If, according to the certificates they once were pregnant and afterwards they are not, immediate question arises: what happened to this pregnancy?