Poland’s president has vetoed a bill that would make the “morning-after” contraceptive pill available without prescription to anyone over the age of 15, the President’s Office announced on Friday.
Andrzej Duda sent the bill back to the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, on the grounds that it breached a constitutional clause on the protection of children’s health.
The President’s Office explained on its website that “the president, in listening in particular to the voices of parents, could not accept legal measures enabling access for children under the age of 18 to pharmaceutical products for use in contraception without the involvement of a doctor and omitting the role and responsibility of parents.”
The statement went on to say that in the course of the bill’s passage through the Sejm, no convincing arguments had been presented to support contraceptive drugs being made available without prescription to women under 18.
Duda also declared his openness to solutions foreseeing the same bill applying to women over 18 years of age.
Jan Mosińśki, a senator from the Law and Justice (PiS, Poland’s largest opposition party) welcomed the decision. “A very good decision by the President of the Republic,” he wrote on X.
The President’s Office explained on its website that “the president, in listening in particular to the voices of parents, could not accept legal measures enabling access for children under the age of 18 to pharmaceutical products for use in contraception without the involvement of a doctor and omitting the role and responsibility of parents.”
The statement went on to say that in the course of the bill’s passage through the Sejm, no convincing arguments had been presented to support contraceptive drugs being made available without prescription to women under 18.
Duda also declared his openness to solutions foreseeing the same bill applying to women over 18 years of age.
Jan Mosińśki, a senator from the Law and Justice (PiS, Poland’s largest opposition party) welcomed the decision. “A very good decision by the President of the Republic,” he wrote on X.
In turn, Barbara Zdrojewska, a senator from the Civic Coalition, the largest bloc in the current government, slammed Duda, calling his two terms in office “pathetic”.Bardzo dobra decyzja Prezydenta RP.
— Jan Mosiński (@MosinskiJan) March 29, 2024
Dziękuję @AndrzejDuda 🤝 za zawetowanie ustawy
tabletka "dzień po". https://t.co/IjuOlmwwNu
Poland and Hungary are the only European Union countries where the so-called “morning-after” pill is available only after obtaining a prescription.Weto prezydenta dla pigułki „dzień po”, z dyletanckim uzasadnieniem. Nic już z siebie nie wykrzesze do końca tych dwóch żałosnych kadencji.
— Barbara Zdrojewska (@BZdrojewska) March 29, 2024
Poradzimy sobie z tym.
Source:
More In Politics MORE...
