FEDERA’s opinion on the draft National List of Emergency Medicines
At the invitation of the Ministry of Health, FEDERA presented its position on the draft National List of Emergency Medicines.
The List is intended to be a database of medicines essential for health security, which must be available regardless of emergencies such as a pandemic or armed conflict. However, the list did not include the mediacations needed to provide gynaecological and obstetric protection for retained miscarriage and abortion.
FEDERA requested that misoprostol be included on the National List of Critical Medicines and that mifepristone be authorised and included on the list.
Further penalty on hospital for unlawful refusal of abortion
The National Health Fund has imposed a fine of over PLN 350,000 on the Polish Mother’s Memorial Health Centre Institute in Łódź for refusing to terminate a pregnancy.
The patient, whose pregnancy was diagnosed as having severe and irreversible foetal defects, reported to the hospital with a certificate from a psychiatrist confirming that remaining pregnant endangered her mental health. On this basis, the hospital had a legal obligation to terminate the pregnancy – it chose not to comply. A medical consiulium was set up, as a result of which the patient was refused assistance. The abortion, thanks to the support of FEDERA, took place in another facility.
Launch of new brochure
FEDERA, together with the FEDERA-affiliated Ponton Group of Sexual Educators, has prepared a brochure on sexual debut. In the publication, one can read answers to questions regarding starting sexuall activities
List of issues prior to submission of the eighth periodic report of Poland
The Human Rights Committee has published a List of issues preceding the upcoming eighth periodic review of Poland.
The Universal Periodic Review is a monitoring mechanism within the UN Human Rights Council to assess the state of human rights in individual countries. As part of it, the Committee also looks at the state of sexual and reproductive rights.
In its List of Issues, the Committee asks Poland to report on its progress in ensuring access to adequate and affordable sexual and reproductive health services for all, particularly women and adolescents, including in rural areas.
In addition, the Committee requested a description of the steps taken to ensure adequate access to safe abortion services for all and the steps taken to remove existing barriers to women and girls’ effective access to safe, effective and legal abortion (such as, for example, the practice of conscience clause abuse). The Committee is also interested in progress on the decriminalisation of abortion.
The Committee’s position is an advocacy success for FEDERA – we presented our position to the Committee, in which we described the current challenges to reproductive rights in Poland and identified issues that the Committee should address for Poland. These comments have been taken into account by the HRC in a published document