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IN Poland a disabled 14-year-old raped by her own uncle was re- fused an abortion by two hospi- tals in her hometown in eastern Poland, because doctors there cited a 'conscience' clause. The case has sparked outrage in the conservative, Catholic country. The girl, who did not under- stand she was pregnant, was taken by her aunt to doctors who treated them "brutally and inhumanely", she claimed. The aunt had even provided docu- ments from a prosecutor saying an alleged rape had occurred and an abortion would be law- ful, but doctors still turned them away. They were alleged- ly told: "Not here, go away. We don't know where. It's none of our concern." The child was only taken to hospital when her relatives discovered the pregnancy. The abortion was later carried out in Warsaw after the inter- vention of Federa, a women's rights organisation. Unlike Malta – where abortion is illegal in all cases – Poland al- lows abortions in very limited cases; namely in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the women is threatened. Even if the current amendment allow- ing terminations when the life and health of a women are in grave jeopardy is passed, abor- tion will remain illegal even in cases like incest and rape. But the outrage sparked by this case in a deeply conserva- tive country like Poland further exposes Malta's international isolation. And women in Po- land face another obstacle: for doctors can refuse to carry out the procedure when this con- flicts with their conscience. Even Polish health minister Wojciech Andrusiewicz, who hails from the ultra-conserva- tive Law and Justice Party was appalled at the case, insisting that: "such an abortion should either be carried out or the doctors should indicate a place where such an abortion can be carried out, so the hospital acted against the statuary pro- visions." The Polish government in- sists that the doctors in the two hospitals who turned the young disabled child back, were in breach of the law when they failed to direct the girl to doctors ready to carry out the procedure. But the law is now being challenged by centrist and left-wing opposition par- ties who want the conscience clause removed. Women at the mercy of con- servative doctors The case itself puts the con- servatism of segments of the medical profession under the spotlight, exposing the risks of laws which deny women agen- cy by giving too much power to doctors, especially those whose judgement is clouded by reli- gious intransigence – food for thought for the Maltese legis- lators who may be tempted to water down the current bill, by giving the final say to a doctors' conference instead of leaving decisions in the hands of the woman and her doctor. Poland was already shocked in 2021 when a woman referred to as 'Mrs. Izabela' died in in a hospital in her 22nd week of pregnancy after being diag- nosed with a general body in- fection. In this case the doctors did not perform an abortion, waiting for the foetus to die on its own. Yet the outrage sparked of these two cases further un- derlines the unpopularity of Poland's restrictive abortion law. For while the conservative government remains broadly popular thanks to its assertive foreign policy and economic interventionism, polls show a majority favouring a liberalisa- tion of abortion laws. PN sister party leads pro-choice campaign Significantly, the Nationalist Party's sister party in Poland – Donald Tusk's Civic Platform – is leading the charge for re- forming abortion laws. The respected EPP politician, who came back to Poland to lead the opposition after a stint as President of the European Council, described the situa- tion in Poland as one in which "in such an obvious case doc- tors are afraid to make a deci- sion". He warned that "preg- nancies are now in the hands of prosecutors or ruling party politicians". Tusk insists that young wom- en who are just starting to think about motherhood should "feel completely safe that the state, the doctor, the law will be on her side." "If a woman knows that the State is not the gloomy eye of Sauron that wants to control her, deprive her of rights, de- prive her of the possibility of making decisions, if the state is open then women will be more ready to take on the great task of motherhood," Tusk said. In February 2021, Civic Plat- form approved a new policy that would not only undo the near-total abortion ban intro- duced by Law and Justice, but also make abortions available for women in cases where they face "an extremely difficult personal situation" and "after consultation with a psycholo- gist and doctor". Tusk was even more categorical in July 2022 when he committed his party to introduce a bill legalising abortion in the first 12 weeks [of pregnancy]. "It should be a decision made by the woman in consultation with a doctor, and not the de- cision of a priest, prosecutor or PiS [ruling party] activist," said Tusk. "We will guarantee it 100%." This position contrasts with the stance of the local Nation- alist Party which is even more extreme than that of Law and Justice; and should also be a wake-up call for Labour, whose timid reform lags far behind the European mainstream whose laws remain even more extreme than those in ultra conservative Poland. 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 FEBRUARY 2023 OPINION Child denied abortion after uncle's rape: it could also happen in Malta James Debono In Poland, Donald Tusk's Civic Platform is leading the charge for reforming abortion laws