CATHOLIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS PROTEST AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT’S GUIDELINES OF 30.08.2024 ON ABORTION
The Catholic Medical Associations meeting in September 2024 in Zakopane are deeply concerned about the content and form of the “Guidelines on the applicable legal provisions on access to the abortion procedure” announced on 30.08.2024.
The life of every human being begins at the moment of conception and from that moment it is protected by the highest constitutional law. Once again, we stand up for unborn children and their mothers and fathers, whose lives and moral values are under attack. We have addressed our Position to the Minister of Health, which we present below
Zakopane September 7, 2024
Catholic Association of Polish Doctors, Catholic Association of Polish Nurses and Midwives, Association of Polish Catholic Pharmacists, Catholic Association of Laboratory Diagnosticians
Madam
Izabela Leszczyna, Minister of Health
00-952 Warsaw, 15 Miodowa Street
POSITION OF CATHOLIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS
IN VIEW OF THE GUIDELINES OF THE MINISTER OF HEALTH ON LIBERALIZATION OF THE PRACTICE OF KILLING UNBORN CHILDREN
UNDER THE PRETEXT OF CARING FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH
The life of every human being begins at the moment of conception and from that moment it is protected by the highest constitutional law.
Once again, we stand up for unborn children and their mothers and fathers, whose lives and moral values are attacked, through directive interference of members of the Polish government in the professional competences of doctors.
The “Guidelines on the applicable legal provisions on access to the abortion procedure” announced on 30.08.2024 attempt to circumvent the applicable regulations and repeal the constitutional guarantee of the right to birth of a human being conceived in the mother’s womb. They are contrary to the law and the Code of Medical Ethics. They are to oblige hospitals and, under the pretext of saving women’s mental health, create the possibility of abortion regardless of the stage of pregnancy. As a result, a healthy child may be born, carried to term, requiring parental care and medical care.
According to the guidelines, doctors who have the right to a conscience clause and independent decisions in the interest of the health and life of the mother and her child, are to interpret the broadly understood health of the mother as a prerequisite for abortion, also taking into account the threat to her mental health.
Gynaecologists dealing with pregnant women, responsible for the health of the mother and her child, who receive a certificate issued by a psychiatrist after a one-time, possibly remote visit, are to be deprived of the possibility of consulting another doctor and convening a medical council under the threat of being charged with restricting access to the abortion procedure. Meanwhile, the individual health situation of a woman may even impose this obligation on him or her.
In 2023, 423 abortions were performed on the basis of the “mental health premise”, while in 2020 there were only 21. The information available in the public space shows that the reason for abortion was often the mother’s “adjustment disorders”, i.e. psychological conditions encountered in the life of every human being, also appearing in the course of physiological pregnancy. A psychiatrist’s diagnosis that pregnancy poses a threat to the mother’s mental health should be the basis for starting therapy to improve her mental state. Performing an abortion will rather make it worse. Scientific studies indicate an increased incidence of suicide in these women.
Ministerial guidelines may not change the law or the provisions of the Code of Medical Ethics. They are not prepared by scientific societies, so they cannot interfere in the course of medical proceedings. They constitute unauthorised interference by administrative authorities in the course of such proceedings.
We support the opinion of the President of the Supreme Medical Chamber, Dr. Łukasz Jankowski: “Issuing any recommendations by politicians regarding medical management is not only exceeding their competence, but also poses a threat to the independence of therapeutic decision-making. In each case, it is the attending physician who bears full responsibility for the patient, is to be guided by current medical knowledge, act in accordance with his or her conscience, observing the code of medical ethics.”
Decisions regarding the protection of the health and life of the patient and her child are always made by a doctor, not an official. If a woman’s health deteriorates as a result of an abortion, it is the doctor, not the official, who will be responsible for this condition and will be criminally liable.
The confirmation of the organization of abortion on demand by the authorities is the permission for the operation of the Abotak clinic, where women will be able to perform illegal pharmacological termination of pregnancy without giving a reason. The Abortion Dream Team, the founders of the clinic, perversely assure that it will operate in accordance with the law. The protection of the child’s life by a doctor cannot be called forcing the child to continue an unwanted pregnancy.
We demand that the Minister of Health withdraw the publicly announced guidelines promoting the killing of children practically until the end of the pregnancy period, that is, also those capable of living outside the mother’s womb, based on the statement of a single doctor, in addition without the possibility of verifying his diagnosis. This is an attempt to introduce abortion on demand by doctors and midwives under the pretext of protecting women’s mental health. Each physician is free to act professionally in accordance with current medical knowledge and his or her own conscience, which is regulated by Article 4 of the Code of Medical Ethics and Article 39 of the Act on the Professions of Physicians and Dentists. Attempts by politicians to interfere in the rules of practicing the medical profession and its professional ethics are unacceptable.
We do not agree to the guidelines forcing doctors appointed to save lives to deal with killing unborn children in hospitals, and hospitals refusing to participate in these inhumane procedures were threatened with legal consequences, very high fines or termination of the contract with the National Health Fund!
We do not agree to the improvement of the law with the help of guidelines, the announcement of threats against doctors who care about the freedom of their consciences and the use of economic blackmail against hospitals.
On behalf of those gathered on 07.09.2024 in Zakopane
representatives of Catholic Medical Associations:
Barbara Kopczyńska, PhD, Secretary of the Main Board
of the Catholic Association of Polish Doctors (KSLP)
Grażyna Rybak, PhD, President of the Mazovian Branch of KSLP
Tadeusz Wadas, PhD, President of the Catholic Association of Polish Nurses and Midwives
Prof. Bogdan Chazan Vice-President of the European Federation of Catholic Doctors
Elżbieta Kortyczko, MD, PhD, President of KSLP
Małgorzata Prusak, PhD, President of the Association of Catholic Pharmacists of Polish
Elżbieta Puacz, MD, PhD, President of the Catholic Association of Laboratory Diagnosticians
Attn:
- Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Donald Tusk
- Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar
- President of the National Health Fund, Filip Nowak
- President of the Supreme Medical Council, Dr. Łukasz Jankowski
- Media
