WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The federal government of Poland, the place a near-total ban on abortion is in place, confronted accusations Monday of making a “being pregnant registry” because the nation expands the quantity of digitally saved medical information concerning the sufferers.
Ladies’s rights advocates and opposition politicians worry ladies face unprecedented surveillance given the conservative views of a ruling occasion that has already toughened what was one of the vital restrictive abortion legal guidelines in Europe. .
They worry that police and prosecutors might use the brand new information in opposition to ladies whose pregnancies finish, together with in circumstances of miscarriage, or that the state might monitor ladies in the event that they ask for abortion capsules or journey overseas for abortions.
“A being pregnant registry in a rustic with an nearly complete ban on abortion is terrifying,” stated Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, a left-wing lawmaker.
The matter drew consideration Monday after Well being Minister Adam Niedzielski signed an ordinance Friday increasing the quantity of data to be stored in a central database about sufferers, together with details about allergic reactions, blood sort and pregnancies.
Well being Ministry spokesman Wojciech Andrusiewicz sought to allay considerations, saying solely medical professionals could have entry to the info and the adjustments are being made on the advice of the European Union.
The trouble, he stated, is geared toward enhancing medical therapy for sufferers, even when they search therapy elsewhere within the 27-member EU. For pregnant ladies, she stated it will assist medical doctors know instantly which ladies shouldn’t have X-rays or sure medicines.
“Nobody is making a being pregnant registry in Poland,” she advised information station TVN24.
However Marta Lempart, chief of a ladies’s rights group, Ladies’s Strike, stated she would not belief the federal government to withhold details about ladies’s pregnancies from police and prosecutors. She advised The Related Press that police in Poland are already questioning ladies about how they finish their pregnancies, tipped off by disgruntled couples.
“Being pregnant implies that the police can come to you at any time and prosecutors can come to you with questions on your being pregnant,” Lempart stated.
The brand new system means many Polish ladies will now keep away from the state medical system throughout their pregnancies, with wealthier ladies searching for personal therapy or touring overseas, together with for prenatal care. In the meantime, the poorest ladies in Poland will face the next danger of medical issues and even demise in the event that they keep away from prenatal care, Lempart fears.
Lempart can be involved that info obtained by the police could possibly be shared with state media to wreck individuals’s reputations.
She already is aware of how that may occur. In 2020, Lempart examined constructive for COVID-19, with state tv reporting the data even earlier than she received the outcomes from her.
Poland prohibits abortion in nearly all circumstances, with exceptions solely when the life or well being of the girl is in peril or if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest.
For years, abortion was allowed for fetuses with beginning defects. That exception was overturned by the constitutional courtroom in 2020.
In follow, Polish ladies searching for to terminate their pregnancies request abortion capsules or journey to Germany, the Czech Republic and different nations the place the process is permitted. Whereas self-administration of abortion capsules is authorized, serving to one other particular person shouldn’t be.
Activist Justyna Wydrzyńska faces as much as three years in jail for serving to a home violence sufferer entry abortion capsules. Amnesty Worldwide says it’s the first such case in Europe.
