JANUARY
Launch of a new publication
The new FEDERA publication on puberty, ‘Secrets of Growing Up – A Guide to Puberty and Sexuality’, was launched at the start of the new year. It is a story about physical and emotional development during puberty. It discusses different identities and orientations and explains the different types of relationships and bonds. Answers to questions about sexuality and where to find support.
Annual summary
Thanks to our monitoring programmes, 1,278 people found a trusted gynaecologist in 2024 alone. This number is a great success for FEDERA and shows the trust our beneficiaries place in us. Thank you!
In addition, in 2024, we won decisions on financial penalties for four hospitals amounting to one million zlotys and provided free legal assistance to 50 people who were denied an abortion.
Sex education will not be compulsory
The Ministry of Education has confirmed that health education will be a non-compulsory subject in the coming school year. Before the parliamentary elections, members of the ruling coalition declared their full support for factual sex education in schools. Later, it was announced that its elements would be included in a broader subject, i.e. health education.
In response, FEDERA has called for immediate action to introduce health education as a compulsory subject in Polish schools from September 2025, as originally planned.
Anniversary of the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling on abortion coming into force
On 27 January 2023, the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling came into force, preventing women in Poland from terminating pregnancies due to foetal defects. Women had their procedures cancelled overnight, and a calculated political decision became a tragedy for hundreds of Polish families.
Polish women still have to fight for access to legal, safe and free abortion in their own country. FEDERA has prepared a petition to the politicians of the ruling coalition expressing their opposition to the lack of action to change the law.
FEBRUARY
Free HIV tests
For Valentine’s Day, we handed out free home HIV tests at the FEDERA Health Centre. We also opened up registration for consultations with a dermatovenerologist and a sexologist. We also offer PrEP and Doxy PEP prophylaxis.
Contraception Policy Atlas Europe 2025
For the fifth time, Poland has been ranked the worst in Europe in terms of access to contraception in a Europe-wide survey on the availability of contraception conducted by the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual & Reproductive Rights (EPF). FEDERA collaborated in the creation of the survey as part of an expert group.
Why does Poland have such a low score? There is still a requirement for a prescription for emergency contraception (despite the introduction of a pilot programme by the Ministry of Health to facilitate access on the basis of a pharmaceutical prescription);
- There is a lack of additional financial support for young women and girls and people from excluded groups (refugee war women, people living in poverty or in a state of homelessness);
- We have an ineffective system of reimbursement for contraceptives (Atlas’ allegations mainly concern the reimbursement of older generations of hormonal contraceptives and the failure to include long-acting contraceptives, i.e. intrauterine devices and hormonal implants, in the reimbursement system);
- Partial requirement to have a third party’s consent to access contraception (consent of a parent or legal guardian in the case of a minor who can already legally engage in sexual intercourse);
- There is a lack of reliable government sources guaranteeing access to factual information about contraception.
New data on the number of abortions
The latest data released by the National Health Fund (NFZ) indicate that 896 abortions were performed in Polish hospitals in 2024. This figure indicates an increase of more than 700% in the number of abortions carried out compared to the period after January 2021, when the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling banning abortion on embryopathological grounds came into force.
From our point of view, the key is the jump between April 2024 (56 abortions) and May 2024 (84 abortions). This was when the National Health Fund imposed the first ever penalty on the hospital for unlawfully refusing to perform a legal abortion, thanks to FEDERA filing a complaint with the Patient Ombudsman at the patient’s request. We see this penalty and any subsequent penalties as a success of our advocacy and legal activities.
Success of FEDERA board members
The president of the FEDERA Foundation, Krystyna Kacpura, and the vice-president, Kamila Ferenc, were elected to the third term of the Warsaw Women’s Council. Congratulations!
