Ordo Iuris monitors compliance with the law in Polish hospitals

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· The Ordo Iuris Institute sent requests to several hundred hospitals for access to public information on the number of abortions performed in a situation of pregnancy resulting from a criminal act.

· Media reports suggest that due to the war in Ukraine, the number of abortions performed on the basis of this premise may have increased in Poland.

· Earlier, the Institute asked the Ministry of Health and the capital city hall a question regarding one of the hospitals in Warsaw, where abortions were to be performed without formal requirements.

· Ordo Iuris constantly monitors compliance with the law with regard to the conditions for permitting abortion.

In mid-April 2022, some media reported that abortions may be performed in one of Warsaw's hospitals without the formal requirements set out in the provisions of the Act on Family Planning. In order to verify these reports, the Ordo Iuris Institute sent a request for access to public information to the Ministry of Health and the capital city hall. The ministry replied that it did not have information on this subject, while the Warsaw authorities replied that everything was done in accordance with the law. Similar inquiries were directed to the relevant healthcare entities in the territory of Poland.

In the exceptional situation caused by the armed conflict in Ukraine, numerous media reports suggested a possible increase in the number of abortions performed on the basis of the provision allowing for abortion in a situation of pregnancy resulting from rape. Therefore, the Institute undertook standard activities aimed at finding out the scale as well as the legality of this phenomenon. Applications for access to public information on this subject were sent to 370 hospitals. Importantly, in accordance with applicable law, abortion on the basis of the so-called a criminal premise is allowed under certain formal conditions specified in the Act on Family Planning. Their omission would, in fact, result in the acceptance of "on demand" abortion that is contrary to the Polish legal order.

“Contrary to false accusations, it should be emphasized that, according to Polish law, possible liability for illegal abortions rests with the doctors who perform them, and not with the women undergoing them. It is particularly inappropriate because it is clearly visible that the abortion circles strive to implement their demands in Poland, ruthlessly using the trauma of Ukrainian women fleeing the war, ”comments Jan Melon, analyst at the Center for Medical Law and Bioethics at the Ordo Iuris Institute.

Ordo Iuris constantly monitors compliance with the law with regard to the conditions for permitting abortion. As part of this activity, at the beginning of 2021, the Institute published the "Audit of abortion deprivation of life", in which it presented numerous doubts about the functioning of the eugenic premise in practice, including resulting from the abuse of this premise by doctors. The conditions for the admissibility of abortions remaining in the Act on Family Planning are consistently within the scope of the Institute's interests and activities.

"The right to access public information, including information on the activities of medical entities performing public tasks, is one of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In order to achieve its statutory goals, Ordo Iuris is also entitled to ask questions about the activities of public medical entities, especially when it comes to the subject matter that is one of the basic areas of the Institute's activity, ”said Jan Melon.