Warsaw asked Prague not to pass a law that would facilitate what the Polish government calls “commercial abortion tourism” for Polish women in the Czech Republic, warning that the passage of the law could harm relations between the two countries.
The warning was issued in a letter published last week by the Polish media and written by Mr Antoni Wrega, Poland’s ambassador to Prague.
The document states that “it is regrettable that legislative proposals to legalize commercial tourism associated with abortion” in the Czech Republic ignore “Polish legislation protecting human lives” of the unborn.
Vrega also noted that the proposals made by Czech lawmakers “encourage Polish citizens to violate the laws of Poland”.
In the letter, the diplomat says that while Poland respects the Czech Republic’s sovereignty and its right to develop and apply its own legislation, his country also expects that “Czechs will at the same time respect democratic processes and cultural values”.
According to Czech media, the country’s health minister Jan Blatnyi also responded in writing, stating that the law in question is being discussed in parliament and therefore has no influence on this process. The Minister also recalled that the permission for foreign women to have an abortion in Czech clinics complies with both national and European legislation.
For his part, Vaclav Laska, leader of the Pirate Party, which proposed the law, said that this issue concerns exclusively the “national legislation” of the Czech Republic and Czech medical practices. Thus, the intervention of Poland in this case is inappropriate.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Andrzej Szynkowski vel Sęk referred to the conflict in an interview published recently, stating that “monitoring the legislative process of (other) countries, especially in areas that worry or may significantly affect Polish citizens , is not only a right, but also an obligation of Polish embassies and missions”.
Let us remind you that the decision of the Constitutional Court of Poland in October last year declared unconstitutional termination of pregnancy due to fetal malformation, which is the main reason for about 1,000 legal abortions performed in Poland.
Currently, Polish law permits voluntary termination of pregnancy only in cases of rape, incest or a serious risk to the mother’s health.
Polish women’s organizations estimate that between 80,000 and 200,000 Polish women travel abroad annually to terminate their pregnancies, which has led to the emergence of specialized clinics in Germany and the Czech Republic with specialized Polish staff. They help women leaving Poland prepare for the trip and carry out the entire procedure as comfortably as possible.
After the announcement of the change in abortion legislation, mass demonstrations took place in all Polish cities as part of the campaign called “Women’s Hell”.