I want to trust that the president is considering making a sensible decision until the last minute. It can be tomorrow, it can be today, as long as it is the right decision, i.e. one that will involve signing this act – said Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy, in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24, referring to the amendment Act on the availability of the morning-after pill without a prescription. Presidential Minister Małgorzata Paprocka said on TOK FM that Andrzej Duda will announce the decision on Friday.
The amendment to the Pharmaceutical Law, providing for the availability of the morning-after pill without a prescription for people over 15 years of age, was adopted by the Senate without amendments on March 6. It is waiting for the president's signature. Andrzej Duda has until Friday to make a decision on this matter.
Dziemianowicz-Bąk: I want to trust that the president is considering making a sensible decision
– We are waiting for this decision as the Left, as women, as MPs they convinced the president a few days ago once again to make the only right decision, which is to sign the act on emergency contraception – said Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy, in “Fakty po Faktach” on Thursday.
She added that “this bill restores normality, restores the right of girls and women to make decisions and respond to unexpected situations.”
When asked what the president was waiting for, she replied that “I want to trust that the president is considering making a sensible decision until the last minute.” – If he needs this time, the constitutional deadlines actually allow him to make this decision tomorrow. It could be tomorrow, it could be today, as long as it is the right decision, i.e. one that will involve signing this act and restoring emergency contraception without a prescription, she said.
When asked about plan B if the president does not sign the amendment, she replied: – Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna has a plan B, she has already announced it publicly.
She added that it would be necessary to use a regulation to provide for the possibility of pharmaceutical prescriptions – so that a representative of the medical profession, a pharmacist, could write the necessary prescription.
She emphasized that “this is a suboptimal solution.” – Of course, we would like and prefer that the president signs the act and that such contraceptive pills are available throughout the European Union. But if the president puts obstacles in the way of people who need emergency contraception, the Ministry of Health and the October 15 coalition government are there to extend a helping hand to them, said Dziemianowicz-Bąk.
Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-BąkTVN24
Presidential minister: decision on the morning-after pill on Friday
Presidential minister Małgorzata Paprocka said on Thursday on TOK FM that “the president has until tomorrow to make a decision and the decision will be announced tomorrow.” – The president is not delaying the decision, but many groups have asked for meetings on this matter. Mr. President weighs the arguments. The doubts are serious, she added. As she indicated, doubts concern the age of people who could purchase certain hormonal contraceptives and the abolition of the requirement to have a prescription enabling the purchase of these products.
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On Tuesday afternoon, President Duda received a group of MPs from the Left. Paprocka was asked about the statement of the head of the Left Club, Anna Maria Żukowska, who said in the media that during the meeting she convinced the president that the act only opens access to the “morning after” pill without a prescription, and that the age that raised the president's greatest concerns is not stipulated in the law. act, and it will be specified in the regulation of the Minister of Health.
Paprocka said that “the issue of age has been referred to the regulation, but the draft regulation is attached to the act, so we know that it is about 15 years of age.” – Moreover, the minister is not bound, the age may also be lower – she added. Although, in her opinion, “it is difficult to imagine it in the context of criminal regulations that punish intercourse up to the age of 15.” Paprocka, however, said that “the Minister of Health will have discretion and may or may not issue such a regulation.”
She said that the president's “greatest doubts are the fact that this may apply to people under 18 years of age.” And as she emphasized, “here we enter into constitutional guarantees of children's health protection and parents' rights.”
– The assessment of such a solution is completely different for adults and completely different for people under 18 years of age, looking from the perspective of the constitutional obligations of parents and additional guarantees, but also from the perspective of the psychology and physiology of children – she explained.
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Paprocka explained that “the president's position is not about whether such drugs should be available or not, but to whom and whether they should be made available with the participation of parents and a doctor.”
– Today, a patient under 18 years of age must go to the doctor with a parent, and consent or co-deciding on consent to the procedure begins at the age of 16. Before that, parents or legal guardians decide one hundred percent – she said.
Main photo source: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski