Poland restricts conscience clause on abortion

An amended Polish resolution on the use of conscience clauses on abortion has come into force, requiring hospitals to have a doctor on site able to perform an abortion in certain circumstances – a significant change in a country with one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe.

Hospitals will now have to ensure that at least one of their doctors is able and willing to carry out abortions in the cases permitted by law, such as when the life or health of the mother is in danger or when the pregnancy is the result of rape.

The change is aimed at cracking down on cases of doctors abusing the conscience clause, resulting in women being unable to terminate a pregnancy even when it is legal.

“Due to the abuse of the so-called conscience clause by some medics, women are often unable to exercise their right to a legal termination of pregnancy,” it was said in the amendment’s justification.

Failure to provide abortions will now result in a penalty for the hospital, including possible termination of its contract with the National Health Fund (NFZ), which means a reduction in state reimbursement for medical procedures and treatment.

Under the 1996 law, doctors have the right to invoke a conscience clause and refuse to perform a medical procedure on religious or moral grounds unless the refusal would deteriorate the patient’s health.

Consequently, “the conscience clause can never apply in a situation where a pregnant woman’s life is at risk, regardless of the advancement (age) of pregnancy,” as stated in the justification for the new amendment.

Polish abortion law is one of the strictest in Europe. Under the 1993 so-called “abortion compromise” that was in place until 2020, terminating the pregnancy was only permitted in three cases: the pregnancy is caused by rape, a threat to the mother’s life and damage to the foetus.

The 2020 ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal, which the EU institutions and many experts saw as controlled by the then-conservative PiS (ECR) government, overturned the latter, sparking a nationwide wave of protest.

A year after the Tribunal’s ruling, the European Parliament in a resolution “The first anniversary of the de facto abortion ban in Poland” called on the government in Warsaw to lift the ban that it said puts women’s lives at risk.

The vote came after the death of a pregnant Polish woman in early November – who her family said died of septic shock after doctors waited for her unborn baby’s heart to stop beating.

Replacing PiS in power in December 2023, the broad coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged to liberalise the law.

However, as the coalition’s member parties disagreed on how liberal the new law should be, they submitted three different draft bills to parliament.

Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO, EPP/S&D/Greens), as well as the Left (S&D), insists on permitting abortion on demand until the twelfth week of pregnancy.

The Third Way Alliance (Renew/EPP), on the other hand, wants a return to the 1993 law.

Last month, PiS’ MP Mateusz Morawiecki, who was the prime minister in 2020, said he supports restoring the status quo “abortion compromise” in Poland he had scrapped when in power.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)

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