The “pregnancy registry” comes into force. The birth rate is falling, fear is increasing
The Ministry of Health argues that this is a European standard. However, many women fear that this is another screening tool that could facilitate the search for “missing pregnancies”. – The government claims that pro-family policy is a priority for it, but the actions taken, such as tightening the anti-abortion law or introducing a pregnancy register, discourage women from giving birth – assesses Oskar Sobolewski, an expert at the Pension Institute.
The Ministry of Health announced in June about the plan to introduce systemic information on the patient’s pregnancy, commonly known as the “pregnancy register”. A regulation on this comes into force today. The register is to be part of the new Medical Information System, which will contain data not only about the patient’s pregnancy, but also about past allergies, implants, hospitalizations or blood group. The rulers argue that this is a European standard. Minister Adam Niedzielski stresses that the new regulation does not create registers but only “broadens the reporting system”.
Despite the assurances and the reassuring tone of the minister, the network boiled over. “Tool of control”, “this is how the government will look>” – these are just some of the allegations.
Natalia Kopaczyńska, 35-year-old from Zielona Góra: – In my opinion, this idea is surveillance. I talk to my girlfriends and see their fear and anxiety growing. Especially women over 40, when pregnancy is often exposed to lethal defects. The registry may cause a situation in which women, out of fear, limit their contact with medical staff, and this will result in the expansion of the “gray area”. Personally, I am in a better position because I live near the German border and can use their medical services. This awareness gives me great psychological comfort. However, my guess is that women from the eastern parts of our country are in a completely different situation.
Kalina Pomorska, 28-year-old from Gliwice: – I’m in the fourth month of pregnancy and I’m afraid for my own life. Pregnancy is wanted, awaited by me and my husband. We want a baby very much, but we hear so much about the fact that doctors do not want to save a woman with a dead fetus. Justyna Wydrzyńska, whom I admire very much, also stood trial. And now this register. What if a tragedy happens and they don’t want to save me? Or then they will drag me to the courts because they will not believe that the child was wanted? It scares me. My mother lives in the UK and she is afraid for me. Most women, whether older or younger, are against it. My husband and I are planning more children, but the next pregnancies will be carried out abroad, because my life is the most important. It is sick that we are afraid and we have to combine.
Moralizing as the norm
Women’s organizations issued their statements on the introduction of the register. FEDERA Foundation for Women and Family Planning calls for peace and vigilance. “Keeping such a register cannot lead to ‘searching for a missing pregnancy or any legal consequences for a woman'” – reads the foundation’s statement.
– Although the ministry justifies the will to facilitate the work of doctors, in today’s Poland every change in reproductive health, especially related to the collection of sensitive data, is subject to suspicions of malicious intentions. And there is no reason to be surprised. Women in Poland, unfortunately, know moralizing and meddling in the private lives of their patients as a norm, not to mention completely ignoring their concerns and needs – comments Krystyna Kacpura, president of FEDERA.
Birth rate. Live births by mother’s age“Demographic situation in Poland until 2020. Deaths and mortality”, GUS report
Demographers also ask what is the point of keeping a register. – Is a pregnancy registry needed in medical records? It seems to me not and I refer to what the gynecologists say. For a physician in an interview, for various health reasons, it may be important to know whether the woman gave birth, but not whether she was pregnant. I also do not believe the assurances from the ministry that these data will not be used for other purposes. We have already had examples of this type of abuse. So I am not surprised that women are worried. I am also concerned, I would prefer the atmosphere around this decision to be different – says prof. Irena E. Kotowska from the Warsaw School of Economics, honorary chairman of the Demographic Sciences Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
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