Poland Establishes ‘Terrifying’ Pregnancy Register After Banning Almost All Abortions

Julia Conley reports:

A new government database tracking people’s pregnancies in Poland is sparking fears that medical data will be used to prosecute women who obtain abortion care in other countries or by getting abortion pills through the mail, and potentially to target women who have miscarriages.

Health Minister Adam Niedzielski approved an ordinance last Friday expanding the kind of information that can be stored in a central database on patients, including allergies, blood type, and pregnancy status.

Tracking pregnancies in the country is necessary, Niedzielski claimed, so doctors know if a woman shouldn’t receive certain medications or x-rays.

But in a country that banned abortion care in almost all cases in 2020—with exceptions theoretically in the case of health risks to the pregnant woman or of a pregnancy that results from rape or incest—Parliament member Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz said Tuesday that the register would be used to “persecute and control Polish women.”