[A new government database tracking peoples pregnancies in Poland
is sparking fears that medical data will be used to prosecute women
who obtain abortion care in other countries or get abortion pills in
the mail, or target women who have miscarriages]
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POLAND ESTABLISHES ‘TERRIFYING’ PREGNANCY REGISTER AFTER BANNING
ALMOST ALL ABORTIONS  
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Julia Conley

Common Dreams
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_ A new government database tracking people's pregnancies in Poland
is sparking fears that medical data will be used to prosecute women
who obtain abortion care in other countries or get abortion pills in
the mail, or target women who have miscarriages _

People attend a protest in Krakow, Poland on November 7, 2021 after
the death of a 30-year-old woman, Iza, of septic shock in her 22nd
week of pregnancy. Iza was denied abortion care despite her condition
and that of her unborn baby., Photo: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto // Common
Dreams

 

"First comes the ban, and then the mechanism for enforcement follows."

Health Minister Adam Niedzielski approved 
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ordinance last Friday expanding the kind of information that can be
stored in a central database on patients, including allergies, blood
type, and pregnancy status.

Tracking pregnancies in the country is necessary, Niedzielski claimed,
so doctors know if a woman shouldn't receive certain medications or
x-rays.

But in a country that banned abortion care in almost all cases in
2020—with exceptions theoretically in the case of health risks to
the pregnant woman or of a pregnancy that results from rape or
incest—Parliament member Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz said 
[[link removed]]Tuesday
that the register would be used to "persecute and control Polish
women."

"Polish women no longer get pregnant for fear of being forced to give
birth in any situation. The reasons for fear have just
arrived," said 
[[link removed]]Agnieszka
Dziemianowicz-Bąk, another left-wing lawmaker. "The pregnancy
registry in a country with an almost complete ban on abortion is
terrifying."

The register will make it more difficult for Polish women to get
around the abortion ban by ordering medication to induce an abortion
or to travel to other European countries for care, as many have since
the law was passed, said journalist Elizabeth Schumacher.
 

Abortion Network Amsterdam, a network of volunteers in the Netherlands
which provides financial and logistical support to people seeking
abortions, said
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would still "help each and everyone who is seeking abortion."

The register represents "another violent attack on sexual and
reproductive rights in Poland," said international human rights
advocate Annika Ojala.
 

Despite the Polish abortion ban's exception for women whose lives or
health are at risk, at least two women have died
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recent months because they were denied abortion care.

Poland's rollback of abortion rights comes as the U.S. has also seen
restrictions passed in a number of states in recent years and as the
U.S. Supreme Court is expected to overturn _Roe v. Wade_ in the
coming weeks—a move which would render abortion illegal
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more than 20 states.

The Polish pregnancy register, said Pamela Merritt, executive director
of Medical Students for Choice in the U.S., illustrates "the logical
next step after abortion bans and criminalization."

_[JULIA CONLEY is a staff writer for Common Dreams.]_

_Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to
republish and share widely._
 

* Women
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* Poland
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* war on women
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* abortion
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* abortion rights
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* anti-abortion
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* pregnancy
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* conception
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* miscarriages
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* women's health
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* Women's health care
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* women's rights
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* Right-wing agenda
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* Catholic Church
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