Refusal to prescribe EC in Poland
According to Polish law, EC can be prescribed by any primary care doctor to any woman who needs it. A journalist in Poland, Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska, undertook an experiment to try and obtain EC in public health care centers with the aim of exposing how many doctors prefer to break the law and professional ethics’ rules instead of prescribing EC to women who need it. Diduszko-Zyglewska visited three health care centers and was told at each one that she could not be prescribed EC without a full exam by a gynecologist to rule out pregnancy, for which she would have to wait between two and four hours (or longer), and even then it was not assured that the doctor would prescribe it. She finally was able to obtain EC from friends who had procured it on holiday in those European countries where it is available without a prescription. Diduszko-Zyglewska encourages women to speak out against this mistreatment so that the Polish Minister of Health will be forced to react to this unethical behavior. Read the full article here.