MAIN POINTS
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Poland’s Ordo Iuris Institute is receiving an increasing number of reports about the unlawful questioning of medical personnel’s right to invoke the conscience clause. This occurs mainly in connection with the refusal to participate in activities leading to abortion.
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In response to this growing problem, the Ordo Iuris Institute has sent hospitals clarifications regarding the exercise of freedom of conscience by medical facility employees who, in accordance with the law, refuse to participate in abortion procedures.
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Our letter recalls, among other things, that our Constitutional Tribunal held that freedom of conscience must be respected regardless of whether there are statutory provisions confirming it.
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Ordo Iuris also points out that the Guidelines issued last year by the former Minister of Health on performing abortions are not legally binding.
Issued by former Minister of Health Izabela Leszczyna in August 2024, the guidelines on the legal provisions regarding the possibility of performing abortions, as well as the changes made by the same minister to the regulation on the general terms of contracts for the provision of health care services, became the reason for an erroneous—pro-abortion—interpretation of the legal provisions defining the conditions under which a pregnancy may be terminated, which has also led to conducts contrary to the law and the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. A flawed interpretation of the law “imposed” on medical teams under threat of financial penalties led, among other things, to the murder of a child (Felka) in the 9th month of pregnancy at a hospital in Oleśnica before Easter.
Another consequence of Minister Leszczyna’s unlawful actions is the practice of restricting the ability to make use of the conscience clause, which infringes upon hospital employees’ freedom of conscience. This concerns situations in which medical professionals lawfully refuse to participate in procedures to which they have a moral objection, chiefly abortion. Today, Ordo Iuris is receiving many reports concerning restrictions on their ability to do so.
Recognizing the threats that this situation poses to the constitutional freedom of conscience and the constitutional right to the protection of life, the Ordo Iuris Institute has sent a letter to hospitals with obstetrics and gynecology departments explaining the basic principles governing the use of the conscience clause by medical personnel in the context of termination of pregnancy. Ordo Iuris notes that the changes to the regulations made by the former Minister of Health have not in the slightest affected the substance of the generally applicable law governing the conditions for termination of pregnancy and the exercise of the constitutional freedom of conscience in Poland.
“The Guidelines are not binding and, moreover, contain false information that is inconsistent with generally applicable law, thus misleading,” the letter stated.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Health claimed that the conscience clause applies only to doctors. Ordo Iuris notes that “in accordance with the law, anyone may refuse to act contrary to their conscience (conscientious objection) under their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of conscience, including nurses and midwives working in hospitals.” The Ordo Iuris Institute also recalls the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal dated October 7, 2015, which emphasized that freedom of conscience is guaranteed to everyone, regardless of whether it is articulated in a statute.
In the same ruling, the Constitutional Tribunal noted that the ability to invoke conscientious objection relates not only to the direct performance of acts that an individual finds unacceptable, but also to taking actions that indirectly lead to an outcome contrary to their conscience.
As the Ordo Iuris Institute points out, the introduction of the Guidelines has resulted in the unlawful performance of abortions in Polish hospitals on mental health grounds.
In hospitals, abortions illegal in Poland are performed under the guise of measures necessary to protect women’s mental health. Although according to current medical knowledge abortion is not a therapeutic intervention for mental health problems, in some hospitals it is used as a method of “treating” mental disorders, often also based on unverified “certificates,” notes Ordo Iuris.
In its letter, the Ordo Iuris Institute also reminds that it offers free legal assistance in matters concerning the exercise of freedom of conscience.
Source of cover photo: iStock
