The morning-after pill without a prescription. There is Andrzej Duda's decision
President Andrzej Duda vetoed the amendment to the pharmaceutical law, which was to introduce the availability of the morning-after pill in Poland without a prescription.
–Mr President took advantage of the prerogative of Art. 122 section 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. He listened to the voices of his parents, which reached him in numerous correspondence. The legal status remains unchanged. The ellaOne product will be available under the existing rules, said the Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland on Friday during a meeting with the media.
“Veto on the morning-after pill. Such a gift from the President for Christmas,” wrote Szymon Hołownia, Marshal of the Sejm.
The announcement posted on the Chancellery of the President's website states that “during the work on the act, there were no (…) convincing arguments in favor of the over-the-counter availability of contraceptives, in particular the medicinal product known as ellaOne for women under the age of eighteen.”
The President declared his openness to the solutions provided for in the discussed act in relation to adult women (over 18 years of age).
It was also noted that the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland received numerous correspondence, including a petition signed by 30,000. people, containing a request to veto the bill. The petition was delivered on March 25 by the president of the prolife Grupa Proelio Foundation, Magdalena Korzekwa–Kaliszuk.
A day later, the Presidential Palace was visited by representatives of the Coalition Parliamentary Club of the Left: Paulina Matysiak, Wanda Nowicka, Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, Marcelina Zawisza and Anna Maria Żukowska, who tried to present arguments to the president in favor of signing this act.
Earlier, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the government was ready for a scenario in which Andrzej Duda would veto the amendment to the pharmaceutical law. – We have in mind action in the form of a regulation that will at least somewhat alleviate the effects of this veto – he assured.
Poland and Hungary are the only countries in the European Union where a prescription is required to obtain emergency contraception.
