2024-04-04 20:33 update: 2024-04-05, 13:47
Photo PAP/Marcin Obara
The Polish health minister has presented details of a draft regulation on the availability of the 'morning after' contraceptive pill without prescription.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health submitted the draft for public consultation. It is set to take effect on May 1.
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.
Under the new regulation, a pharmacist will be able to issue a pharmaceutical prescription following consultation. For underage people between 15 and 18 years old, parental consent will not be required.
"The solution proposed by the health ministry is not an ideal solution, but it is the only possible and legal one until a new president is elected," Izabela Leszczyna, the health minister, said on Thursday.
"A president for whom women's rights, human rights, will be a real and not just a declarative value," she added.
The next presidential elections are scheduled for spring 2025. According to the constitution, Duda will not be eligible for re-election after his second term ends. (PAP)
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