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The pregnancy registry goes into effect. This is how the regulation is defined, as a result of which the Medical Information System will have to record, inter alia, the patient’s pregnancy. On Friday, they were signed by the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski. This provision is controversial, opposition politicians and women’s rights organizations protest, and lawyers also raise objections. – The pregnancy registry is another step in enslaving women – wrote Beata Maciejewska, MP from the Left.
- The Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, signed an ordinance on Friday, according to which medical staff will collect patient data on, inter alia, allergies, blood groups, and pregnancy
- Collecting such data always gives a temptation to use them against citizens, for the purposes of the authorities not always in line with the interests of citizens – says lawyer Kamila Ferenc
- The pregnancy registry goes into effect. Later, PiS will be surprised again that women in Poland do not want to give birth to children, emphasizes the economist and analyst Alicja Defratyka.
- The regulation does not create any registers, but only extends the reporting system – explains Wojciech Andrusiewicz, spokesman for the Ministry of Health
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
Pregnancy Registry: What Does It Mean?
On Friday, the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, signed an ordinance aimed at “clarifying the detailed scope of data on a medical event processed in the information system and the rules for their transmission”.
According to the new guidelines, medical staff will collect additional patient data, including allergies, blood groups, and pregnancy. These data will go to the Medical Information System (SIM).
The regulation is to enter into force within two weeks from the date of its publication.
The new regulations, conventionally known as the “pregnancy register”, caused much controversy in the fall of last year, when they were consulted.
Many women, as well as activists and organizations defending women’s rights, fear that the regulation will become a tool of excessive state interference with the privacy of pregnant women, their control and intimidation. This applies, inter alia, to travel abroad where they could have an abortion. Let us recall that by the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal of October 2020, the right to abortion in Poland has been limited to a minimum.
Ministry of Health: this is not a register
According to the Ministry of Health, the changes will translate into increased availability and transparency of information provided to the Medical Information System, which will improve the work of medical personnel, facilitate the circulation of medical documentation and reduce the costs of making it available.
– The regulation does not create any registers, but only extends the reporting system – spokesman for the Ministry Wojciech Andrusiewicz said in an interview with PAP.
He explains that Patient Summary, translated as a Patient Card, is to facilitate the use of medical services throughout the EU based on the history of treatment and basic data about the patient.
– The Patient Summary is to apply in the European Union from next year. Its implementation is obligatory for all EU countries. Including the pregnancy in the reporting obligation is absolutely justified in the light of the importance of this information from the perspective of the ongoing treatment process – added the spokesman of the Ministry of Health.
Gynecologist: we have to report every medical visit
A few months ago a gynecologist spoke about the announced «pregnancy register» for MedTvoiLokony, asking for anonymity.
– In January this year, Cichacz, an ordinance was introduced that obliges all offices – including private ones – to register all medical events. And it would seem that there are complications, but no. We have to report every medical visit. It doesn’t matter if it was a gynecological examination or a lip augmentation in an aesthetic medicine office. All this goes to the P1 portal. And this means that someone may one day request medical documentation and receive consent – she said.
– For now, we are still in the EU, and the patients have a choice – virtually every Polish border. But we’ll see what happens next. Because if doctors report pregnancies and the results of prenatal tests, it will be known which woman went abroad to terminate the pregnancy – she emphasized.
«The pregnancy register is entered. There will be no children from this »
Today, social media is full of comments from public figures about the controversial regulation. There are no doctors among them. Politicians from the opposition or non-governmental organizations are speaking about the matter.
The chairman of the Civic Platform, Donald Tusk, spoke negatively about the idea of the Ministry of Health. – The purpose of this pregnancy register was to help pregnant women and mothers-to-be in organizing medical care. Today we are dealing with an attempt to register to control – he said. – Today, Polish women, future mothers, need care, full access to a doctor, and not the prosecutor’s control over the termination process, added Tusk.
– Collecting such data always gives a temptation to use them against citizens, for the purposes of the authorities not always coinciding with the interests of citizens – said Kamila Ferenc, a lawyer from the Foundation for Women and Family Planning, in an interview with TVN24.
A lot of negative opinions appeared on Twitter.
As Senator Krzysztof Brejza wrote, “The draft has been exempted from being consulted by the legal committee”. He obtained this information from the Ministry of Health.
Brejza also quotes the opinions of the organizations that gave their opinion on the project last fall.
According to the Conference of Rectors of Academic Medical Universities, “The draft does not provide for the right to delete data in the event of its (natural) loss or legal termination of pregnancy, and does not specify how the patient / patient can exercise the right to object to the processing of this data“.
The Panoptykon Foundation, on the other hand, believes that the regulation is inconsistent with the constitution and the GDPR because it is “an attempt to circumvent the principle of exclusivity of the law”.
The constitutionalist Dr. Kamil Stępniak also wrote about the legal doubts. «Collecting information about the patient’s pregnancy raises numerous constitutional doubts. Such a register can be used as a tool of repression against all pregnant women, in particular those who may want to terminate their pregnancy »- he stated on Instagram.
Borys Budka from the Civic Platform wrote that “Pregnancy Register – instead of helping and providing care, they prefer to be under surveillance and intimidation. 1984 at your fingertips ».
«Every second Pole does not want to be a mother in Poland. He is guilty, inter alia, no abortion, no tolerance, no access to IVF and no support. What about PiS? Hey, let’s introduce a pregnancy register, maybe more children will be born »wrote Katarzyna Kotula from the Left.
Her party friend Beata Maciejewska spoke in a similar vein.
«The pregnancy registry is the next step in enslaving women. It is already fearful to get pregnant in Poland, because it means only dangers on the part of the state. Bans, control, intimidation. Women’s hell is a fact »she said.
«Now the pregnancy register is entering, and what will PiS want to register later? Sale of contraceptives? There will be no children of this »- Katarzyna Lubnauer, KO MP.
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«The pregnancy register comes into force. Later, PiS will be surprised again that women in Poland do not want to bear children. There is action – there is a reaction »- said the economist and analyst Alicja Defratyka.
The writer Ziemowit Szczerek also referred to the matter. «PiS will control pregnancies. Pregnant women will be recorded. Children owned by the party. If I were a woman, it would be difficult for me to make a decision about having a child in such a country today. Not in Poland. Poland is no more. There is some quasiklerofascist rot »- he wrote.
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