The Polish Health Ministry has submitted for public consultation a draft regulation on availability of the ‘morning after'’ contraceptive pill without prescription.
The draft was needed after President Andrzej Duda vetoed a bill aiming to make the pill available without prescription to anyone over the age of 15. The veto sent the legislation 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.
Later on Wednesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the regulation on the contraceptive pill would make it “practically fully accessible on the basis of a pilot programme.”
Addressing an election meeting in Kraków, southern Poland, Tusk said that a “plan B” in the form of a regulation would come into effect on May 1, but admitted that it would never be as perfect as “plan A,” which was the planned law.
He also said that the ruling coalition had been implementing its election promises, with the morning-after pill being one of them.
Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna had earlier declared that even if the president vetoed the bill, the contraceptive would be made available without a prescription from 1 May. She added that it would be introduced by way of a regulation, and that “pharmacists will be able to issue a pharmacy prescription and sell a woman the pill based on a consultation.”
The morning-after pill was previously available in Poland without prescription for patients aged 15 and over, up to 2015. But the socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, elected into office that year, changed the law in 2017, making it only available on prescription.
Later on Wednesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the regulation on the contraceptive pill would make it “practically fully accessible on the basis of a pilot programme.”
Addressing an election meeting in Kraków, southern Poland, Tusk said that a “plan B” in the form of a regulation would come into effect on May 1, but admitted that it would never be as perfect as “plan A,” which was the planned law.
He also said that the ruling coalition had been implementing its election promises, with the morning-after pill being one of them.
Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna had earlier declared that even if the president vetoed the bill, the contraceptive would be made available without a prescription from 1 May. She added that it would be introduced by way of a regulation, and that “pharmacists will be able to issue a pharmacy prescription and sell a woman the pill based on a consultation.”
The morning-after pill was previously available in Poland without prescription for patients aged 15 and over, up to 2015. But the socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, elected into office that year, changed the law in 2017, making it only available on prescription.
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