Poland

This blog post asks whether abortion should be illegal in Poland (it is currently). It starts out using the euphemisms of reproductive rights, but ends with a more thoughtful line of questioning:

I was going to ask – “Do women in fact have ‘the right’ to exercise such control over their own bodies when it comes to the question of terminating pregnancies?” but decided not to thinking the answer might simply depend on one’s religious tendencies. But then I wondered if perhaps there might be other points of view?

Why yes, there are other points of view! Thanks for asking. Welcome to ProWomanProLife.

Anyhoo, the author points to an article from the UK about how for Polish women apparently England is a popular abortion destination.

This highlights two things for me:

One: If Polish women are travelling to the UK and not travelling to the Czech Republic or Russia, two neighbouring countries where abortion is very much legal and available then they really aren’t desperate.

Two: Polish women are some of the most discerning, stylish, smart, fashionable, savvy women I know. Ie. not oppressed. This speaks to one of my themes–abortion has nothing to do with women’s rights.

This All Things Polish blog, turns out to be very funny, in particular to me, since I have some Polish heritage. Check out Ciocia Halina (Auntie Halina) “your problem is my joy”–which really, really speaks to the, er, shall we say interested and invested nature of Polish families, parents too. Then this post made me laugh: Ten Things to Remember when you Have a Polish Girlfriend. (Note No. 9–she’s smarter than you!)

This study, published in January in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health shows a substantive link between abortion and subsequent preterm births and low birth weights.

The Medical Post reported about this study on February 5. (It’s a registration required site so I’ll just quote from the article here.)

With increasing number of abortions, there was an increasing risk for both premature birth and low birth weight, Dr. Adera told the Medical Post. That is one major indication of a causal connection. […]

We believe this study confirms that both induced and spontaneous abortions are risk factors both for low birth weight and for premature births. And therefore we believe that women need to be informed about these potential risks by their doctors.

This has been known for a while. Researchers have cited the example of Poland, where abortion is illegal.

Poland dramatically reduced its rates of premature birth, maternal mortality and infant mortality within a few years after its abortion rate declined by 98% between 1989 and 1993 (as a result of the passage of an abortion ban). “If induced abortion significantly elevates pre-term birth risk, one would expect Poland’s pre-term birth rate to slump 5–10 years after the induced-abortion rate plunge,” [researchers] wrote. They say data from UNICEF found that, between 1995 and 1997 (after abortion declined by 98% from 1989 – 1993), Poland’s pre-term birth rate dropped by 41.8% and maternal mortality decreased 41.4%, and infant mortality was down by 25.0%.

This is important because in Canada, 17 per cent of abortions are done on girls age 10-19, 54 per cent on women age 20-29. In short, it’s likely these women are aborting their first child, with the hope of having another one later. Preterm birth is a risk factor for all kinds of complications, as is low birth weight. When babies experience complications, it is personally distressing to young mothers. It’s also a stress on our health care system. (This, in my estimation, falls a very distant second as a reason to make the information public. But dollars and cents matter, especially as our health care system declines.)

No, the information should be public so women can know and learn. And women are not hearing this information. I don’t bring it up as a scare tactic. Take a look at the study and decide for yourself.

Viva Polska

Information is not a scare tactic

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