Access to arbortion in Poland Legal issue within political context

Summary There is a variety of perceptions of conception, pregnancy and birth in different cultures. Hahn and Muecke developed for it a term birth culture which: „informs members of a society about the nature of conception, the proper conditions of procreation and childbearing, the workings of pregnancy and labour, and the rules and rationales or pre- and postnatal behaviour‟.1 Their concept describes all relevant elements of the reproductive process in a cultural context. I believe that this perspective can also be taken into consideration for understanding the controversial issue of abortion. Pregnancy termination and its social acceptance (or its lack) differs not only across countries, but also within them. The size of population, food supply or political environment could be the factors deciding about criminalisation of the abortion procedure. China`s „one child policy‟ can be used as a great example of a population controlling procedure where abortion is just a tool. In the Western world the controversy in abortion is whether the woman is entitled to control her body and fertility and whether the foetus is considered as a „human being‟ from the very first moment of conception.3 The religious impact is very strong, especially in more conservative countries and less developed societies, where the area of woman`s fertility is marked by symbols and myths. What is more, abortion, due to its lethal and irreversible consequences, is highly controversial in many countries and can easily be classified as social and political taboo. Very often, as in the case of Poland, public debate is dominated by emotions and opinions which are not based on scientific facts. Parties can abuse the public with high dose of populist messages what increases the social confusion and creates a serious obstacle to the access not only to services but what is even more important – to health care information. Moreover, as the thesis will prove, Polish women can also be discriminated on the basis of the economic situation, as many women are forced to pay for abortion due to limited access to public health care services, what clearly breaches the principles of right to access to health care described briefly in the methodology chapter. Additionally, lack of supportive policy and law can lead to serious consequences for regions and even whole countries. It is estimated that in the early 1990s between 100 000 and 200 000 women died each year in developing countries from the complications after illegal abortions4. The Dutch abortion foundation Women on Waves claims that every 8 minutes a woman dies as a result of an illegal and unsafe abortion. This master thesis explains the issue of abortion within context of policy in Poland, European country, well known for its strict law in this matter. There are many issues and elements that define the law and its social acceptance and this thesis aim at describing the majority of them, making possible withdrawing conclusions and recommendations based on comprehensive research rather than partial and subjective opinions that dominate public debate in Poland.