The Polish Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians wants to make sure that he properly understands the phrase “termination of pregnancy”, so he addressed questions to the Ministry of Health in this matter. As the resort announces, the answers will appear.
Key facts:
- Abortion has changed strongly after the controversial judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal. Since then, there is no premise for terminating pregnancy due to a severe fetal defect.
- This change introduced uncertainty in the medical community and fears of possible attracting criminal liability in the event of an abortion.
- The Polish Society of Gynecologists and obstetricians asks MZ to interpret the regulations.
- More recent information can be found in tvn24.pl.
The Polish Society of Gynecologists and Obstetrics directed to the Ministry of Health Izabela Leszczyny Questions, in connection with the case of the patient described by the media, who in the hospital in Oleśnica interrupted pregnancy in the 36th week due to the premise for the threat to the health or life of the mother.
Doctors turned to interpret the regulations regarding the termination of pregnancy and confirmation of the correctness of understanding the phrase “interruption of pregnancy”. This is related to the case interrupted in the hospital in Oleśnica pregnancy in the 36th week.
MZ will prepare answers
The Ministry of Health has announced that it is preparing answers. She also reported that in March 2025 Minister Leszczyn asked the National Health Fund and the Patient Ombudsman to control the process of organizing benefits to the patient who was terminated pregnancy in the 36th week.
“The control includes services provided in hospitals in Łódź and Oleśnica,” he said Health Ministry.
It was noted that NFZ He checks the implementation of services for benefits, including their availability and quality and correctness of medical records (as a health service financing authority). MZ said that the Patient Ombudsman is investigating whether patients' rights were duly respected in the aforementioned facilities. According to the Ministry of Health, the commissioned inspections include verification of the performance of the contract for the provision of benefits, with particular emphasis on their organization, quality and availability, and compliance with the patient's rights to services and information.
Questions from the RPO
It was emphasized that the ministry prepares answers to questions addressed to Leszczyna not only by the Polish Society of Gynecologists and obstetricians, but also the Ombudsman.
RPO Marcin Wiącek He asked the head of the ministry asking if she had intervened in connection with the case, and if so, she asks for more information. He also applied for a copy of the PTGiP response, which asked the Ministry of Health to explain about the interpretation of the concept of “termination of pregnancy”.
In the application to the Ministry of Health, the PTGiP Management Board granted the view expressed, for example, in the “medical law system”, according to which, after the fetus achieved the ability to live independently outside the mother's body and after the premise in the form of a threat to life or mother's health, the procedure of interrupting pregnancy, however completely legal, cannot rely on the intentional killing of the fetus.
Tightened abortion law
The judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of October 2020 does not apply to the termination of pregnancy due to a severe fetal defect. The law allowed the use of this premise until the fetus achieved the ability to live independently outside the body of a pregnant woman. Currently, pregnancy can be interrupted in the event of a threat to a woman's health or life or when it arose as a result of a criminal act, e.g. rape. In the case of a prerequisite for a woman's health or life, there is no specific date until the expiry of which is possible to terminate pregnancy. In the event of a criminal act, the termination of pregnancy is possible until its 12th week.
Minister Leszczyn in an interview with PAP last autumn drew attention to the gap in the abortion law that appeared after the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal.
She said that the verdict caused not only the deletion of one premise to interrupt pregnancy, i.e. a lethal fetal defect, but with this provision a provision was deleted to which week of pregnancy you can perform the procedure. – So we stayed with leaky recipes. And this is dramatic. Politicians who have made such a decision are responsible for the fact that this question remains unanswered – she assessed.
Author/author: AKR/KA
Source: PAP
Source of the main photo: Shutterstock