Article Date: 17 May 2011 - 9:00 PDT
email to a friend 
printer friendly 
opinions 
New analysis published by the UK journal Reproductive Health Matters shows that the criminalisation of abortion in Poland has led to the development of a vast illegal private sector with no controls on price, quality of care or accountability. Since abortion became illegal in the late 1980s the number of abortions carried out in hospitals has fallen by 99%. The private trade in abortions is, however, flourishing, with abortion providers advertising openly in newspapers.
Women have been the biggest losers during this push of abortion provision into the clandestine private sector. The least privileged have been hardest hit: in 2009 the cost of a surgical abortion in Poland was greater than the average monthly income of a Polish citizen. Low-income groups are less able to protest against discrimination due to lack of political influence. Better-off women can pay for abortions generating millions in unregistered, tax-free income for doctors. Some women seek safe, legal abortions abroad in countries such as the UK and Germany.
"In the private sector, illegal abortion must be cautiously arranged and paid for out of pocket," says Agata Chelstowska, the author of the research and a PhD student at the University of Warsaw. "When a woman enters that sphere, her sin turns into gold. Her private worries become somebody else's private gain". The Catholic Church, highly influential in predominantly Catholic Poland, leads the opposition to legal abortion.
Since illegality has monetised abortion, doctors have incentives to keep it clandestine: "Doctors do not want to perform abortions in public hospitals," says Wanda Nowicka, Executive Director of the Federation for Women and Family Planning. "They are ready, however, to take that risk when a woman comes to their private practice. We are talking about a vast, untaxed source of income. That is why the medical profession is not interested in changing the abortion law."
In several high profile cases, women and girls have been denied legal abortions following rape or because of serious health conditions and have been hounded by the media for seeking them. The 2004 case of a young pregnant woman who died after being denied medical treatment is currently under consideration at the European Court of Human Rights.
Other articles in this issue of Reproductive Health Matters focus on many aspects of health privatisation worldwide and include studies from Bangladesh, Turkey, Malawi, India, Madacascar and South Africa.
Source:
Reproductive Health Matters
Visit our abortion section for the latest news on this subject. There are no references listed for this article. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:
MLA
8 Dec. 2011.
Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.
posted by Smith on 18 May 2011 at 6:07 pm
United States women won this war, but the religious minority is stealing the right away state-by-state, city-by-city. The poor are the ones to suffer. Abortion has always been, and always will be available to those who can pay.
| post followup | alert a moderator |
posted by julianne on 19 May 2011 at 11:48 am
I thought, obviously erroneously, that Poland had strong adoption protocols in place for these unplanned pregnancies??? It sounds like a bad situation, not what i had been led to believe about my grandmothers country. I will pray about it all. The Catholic Church is mostly very evil and hates women.
| post followup | alert a moderator |
Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.
If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.
All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.
