It has been a small over 3 years since the crucial judgement of the Constitutional Court. It found that the alleged eugenic condition was incompatible as an exception in the Act of 7 January 1993 on household Planning, Protection of Human Fetals and Conditions of Acceptability of Abortion. Thus, the most crucial (since most commonly utilized in practice) origin of legal termination of pregnancy (i.e. killing a kid in prenatal period) was removed from the legal order of Poland. This meant nothing more than that for twenty-three years of the Basic Act functioning in parallel with it a bill that cost thousands of lives, legally (according to the Act, not the Constitution) taking distant their right to live on account of their health. What changed this triumph of life by law? Are we surviving in a more civilized country that does not discriminate against the weakest group? What is the real situation? Will the likely change of government importantly affect the future of defending unborn life in Poland?
Legal and political aspects
The very repeal of the eugenic condition should consequence in a crucial decrease in legal abortions. It's come to this. Formally, no longer “treatments” caused by kid diseases like trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). 2 exceptions stay in the bill. The danger of the mother's wellness or life and pregnancy as a consequence of a prohibited act (rape or incest). In 2020, a full of 1076 "procedures" were performed, of which 1053 were the consequence of citing a eugenic premise. It is easy to announcement that the another exceptions allowing abortion are a margin of 23 cases. So the triumph of life with the judgement of the Constitutional Tribunal seems almost complete. Unfortunately, the painting is not so pink.
For respective months now, we have learned from the pro-life organization that an exception about the health/life of the parent has become a popular circumvent of the ban on eugenic abortion. It turns out that underpreciation of the evidence may consequence in an unauthorised but possible explanation of the request to defend the intellectual wellness of the mother. In this case, a pregnant female (especially with probable kid disability) states that having a kid will origin intellectual problems. A suitable psychiatrist (scrupulous or ideologically motivated) can confirm this with a certificate that entitles a female to a alleged pregnancy term. The infirmary in Oleśnica, known for not making problems in specified situations, carried out successively: 0 abortions due to the danger of parent intellectual wellness before 2021, 9 abortions for this reason in 2021 and 75 in 2022. (Information is given behind the PRO Foundation – Right to Life) It seems that the abortion door on request is being lifted further and further. Paradoxically, this may lead to a situation where it is easier to get than before a judgement that formally reduced the number of exceptions to the abortion ban.
The situation is changing, and so far specified an exit is not very popular. In the end, it takes any effort. uncovering a psychiatrist willing to issue a certificate, a infirmary that will not interpret the exception about the wellness and life of a female differently, or a doctor citing a clause of conscience. Unfortunately, the government of PiS itself came to the aid of abortion organizations and doctors about abortion mentality.
SEE ALSO: What does LIFE look like 2 years after TK's sentence?
In the media sphere, both the Minister of wellness (Adam Niedzielski) talking about the right to abortion, as well as the president of the Council of Ministers (Mateusz Morawiecki) supporting the protection of the intellectual wellness of pregnant women blinked at their theoretical ideological opponents: you know, we ban it supposedly, but you can easy circumvent it and we have no problem with it. This is simply a clear signal for hospitals who would like to participate in the ‘psychic’ excuse that there will be no trial or more precise explanation that the mother's wellness hazard cannot be interpreted expandingly. Lawyers Ordo Iuris in the newsletter dated 23.06.23 write:
The position of Ordo Iuris, where we informed doctors that the mother's intellectual problems could not be considered a wellness emergency, allowing abortion. In our position, we have called for a national psychiatric consultant to say that “pregnancy depression can and must be treated”. On the another hand, recognising that mother's depression is adequate to carry out abortion in practice would mean accepting abortion at the request of a "back door".
However, it would be better if alternatively of the legal position of the foundation it was the position of the Government of the Republic. And here again the Minister of Sunday appears, and it turns out that "growling" to the environment of hostile protection of life conceived is not everything. The Minister shall set up a squad for the improvement of guidelines for medicinal operators on termination procedures. The team's composition, the erstwhile Minister's "blownness" and the secrecy of the Team's work from the beginning have filled the pro-life environment with concerns. At the end of August, Grzegorz Braun attempted to conduct a parliamentary intervention in the ministry to get information on the team's work. Accompanying MP Braun Kaja Godek of the Life and household Foundation then described events in the ministry. The intervention was prevented by the police, who should assist her. Eventually, the squad appointed by the Minister of Sunday and not changed nevertheless by his successor, Katarzyna Sójka, extended the deadline for the announcement of the final paper from September to November 15. So to “after the election”.
It's hard to tell precisely what's going to happen with the election outcome. Most likely the government will now be a coalition of KOs, the 3rd Way and the Left (not to list smaller entities consisting of individual blocks). It is possible that papers and guidelines will be published behind the United Right. If not, I think that from the position of the fresh government specified a demonstration by Sunday that the minister's regulation can circumvent the constitutional order can only be received positively. Especially since a formal change of law could be unconstitutional. And even if it doesn't, the Law and Justice can't let the President's veto to be rejected. So if the team's papers from the Ministry of wellness are hidden and the PiS wants to play a conservative role, it can do so, and the opposition will take on any form of limiting the protection of unborn life. Besides, it is 1 of the promises of the leader KO, the strongest player in the future likely coalition.
Is there a hard time waiting for the prolaifers? I'm sure. But I don't think it's much heavier than it's been. They did not truly have the support of the outgoing government. The police, the D.A., or the courts were alternatively lenient to those who attacked them. And there have been cases where permissiveness is simply a very far-reaching euphemism.
Outside the law
Legal and legal issues (or legal aspects of a ministerial press conference or guidelines) related to abortion are 1 thing. The second is the alleged abortion underground. It is not a secret cognition that those who call for a legal and safe abortion, threatening that women can benefit from illegal and dangerous without it, themselves promoting and organizing this illegal and dangerous. It's just business. but possibly the absolute evil of the service they sell. The Abortive Dream Team, or organization of this type, declared on its social media that it "helped" over the last year 46,000 women by supplying abortion pills or organizing surgical abortion abroad (the second is rarer). Of course, it is not known how real this data is, whether it is about any boasting and giving the fresh government "underlays" for fresh legal solutions, due to the fact that "You know, you understand. As they do so, let it be legally and under state control." For many reasons, I would like these numbers to be inflated. This would mean the death of less people, the little popularity of easy and drastic solutions among Poles who chose to usage the "services" of the ADT, but besides the greater the number of people who have actively taken advantage of this option, the greater the group is most likely able to wave their hands or even support it, due to the fact that "if you do not want to have an abortion, don't do it to yourself." However, 1 could ask rhetorically if any kid who had been "an abortion" had a chance to talk on this matter. In fact, in a usually functioning country, organizations specified as the Abortive Dream squad should constantly explain themselves to law enforcement, and after proven guilty, their members convicted of breaking the law. It doesn't substance if it's just business for them or if they believe they're breaking an unfair law that violates women's rights in their understanding. Meanwhile, they brazenly advertise their activities in “the terrible country where a female is an incubator”. And the president of the supposedly conservative organization himself suggests that no 1 is trying to cut short. He says: I don't want to exaggerate, but this [abortion - footnote A.P.] Almost all corner in Warsaw and in many different places can be arranged , No 1 is fighting this, so it would make sense to make a referendum on specified matters if, for example, we demanded that this be done decisively. (quote for tvn24.pl)
I realize that government is not the most crucial thing, but it besides helps build awareness and I never agreed with the voices that went easy by saying not to contact the 1993 compromise, due to the fact that the most crucial thing is that people know that abortion is evil and that there are no people willing to do it, and besides, erstwhile the left comes, it will take revenge and introduce legal abortion on request. That's why I was happy to hear the TK's conviction 3 years ago, although I was afraid it would only solve any of the problems. And the judgement besides shows that the compromise at least since the Constitution was passed was not legal.
If we had a government that has actually been behind life, we could have had a compromise for 7 years, a complete ban on abortion, wise guidelines on saving a mother's life, if it was impossible to save a child. Even if the ban on eugenic abortion was limited and the exception of mother's health/life was left, a squad could be set up that would make abortion hard and give time for reflection. For example, through specified actions: referrals from a psychiatrist, if allowed, would should be approved by any body controlling psychiatrists. If this could be done, it would besides be useful to prevent these "procedures" if the child's heart beats, and earlier reduce by burdensome procedures, appropriate education, which are alternate options (perinatal hospital, adoption, etc.), support for parents in hard situations, including intellectual ones. You could think about all this carefully if your intentions were in a pro-life spirit. Oh, yeah, we have a conviction against killing sick kids, but everything else around here shows that it's easier to be on the other side than those kids. You don't know precisely what the future will bring. It is known that fighting will not be easy, but it is necessary. After all, it's a substance of life and death. Literally.