The Sejm referred a parliamentary draft amendment to the Penal Code regarding partial decriminalization of abortion for further work in the committee. Antonina Lewandowska from the FEDERA Foundation for Women and Family Planning and Prof. Maciej Socha, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department of St. Hospital. Wojciech in Gdańsk in the “Tak jest” program agreed that this is a step in the right direction. Prof. Socha cited the example of a raped transgender man who was refused an abortion three times. – The scalpel opens in your pocket – he said.
On Friday, the Sejm referred a parliamentary draft amendment to the Penal Code for further work in an extraordinary committee, which assumes partial decriminalization of termination of pregnancy with the woman's consent and decriminalization of assistance in independent abortion.
Antonina Lewandowska from the FEDERA Foundation for Women and Family Planning said in the “Tak jest” program on TVN24 that this was “a good direction and a good sign”, but noted that “it is definitely too little and definitely too late”. – The issue of abortion should have been taken care of legislatively at the very beginning of the current coalition government. The fact that it is happening only now and in such a limited form is a clear sign that abortion is still being played out primarily as a political issue, and not as a topic that concerns women's lives and health, she emphasized.
– Every day we answer calls and every day we help, provide information and support to enforce these abortions. So what is happening now in the Sejm, that the project is sent for further work in the committee, we still have a long way to go to change the law – added Antonina Lewandowska.
Antonina Lewandowska: abortion is still played out primarily as a political topicTVN24
Prof. Socha: abortion was, is and will be
Prof. Maciej Socha, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department of St. Hospital. Wojciech in Gdańsk, agreed that referring the project for further work in the committee is “a step in the right direction”. – Abortion was, is and will be. Abortions happen every day, and I am very much looking forward to any solutions that will prevent women from feeling like someone who is a criminal, he said.
– I would love for decriminalization and decriminalization to become obvious, because the situation in which a woman needs help and decides she wants to have an abortion will not change because of what the law is or what consequences can be brought against her. She will simply have an abortion, but in perhaps unworthy conditions, in medical conditions that do not adequately protect her – emphasized Prof. Maciej Socha.
Prof. Socha: abortion was, is and will beTVN24
Prof. Socha: he was refused an abortion in three centers
When asked whether the decriminalization solutions also apply to doctors, the head of the obstetrics and gynecology department replied that “this is what happens in practice” when doctors hear that continued pregnancy poses a threat to a woman's health and life.
– Be also for a 23-year-old transgender man who was raped, among other things, with a meat tenderizer. It turned out that she was infected with HIV and was also pregnant. The psychiatrist issued a certificate that this transman should have an abortion because further pregnancy threatens his health and life, he said. – I hear that in three centers in Silesia he was refused an abortion. In such a case, the scalpel opens in your pocket, said Prof. Plow.