Moral dilemmas of women undergoing pregnancy termination for medical reasons in Poland

Abstract

Objectives: We explored the religious views and dilemmas of Polish women making the decision to terminate a pregnancy. The article discusses the highly restrictive legislation and significant influence of the Church on the lives of Polish citizens.

Methods: This study was designed to investigate the effect of religious and political beliefs, social and moral conditioning and professional support on the decision to abort a fetus. A 65-item questionnaire was administered to 60 participants at the time of their pregnancy termination.

Results: Pregnancy termination was performed outside the resident county in 32% of cases. Approximately 88% of respondents declared themselves Catholic, but only 22% intended to admit to the pregnancy termination during confession. Five percent of respondents feared the reaction of the priest, while the remaining respondents did not perceive termination of pregnancy for medical reasons as a sin. Of the women who had previously opposed pregnancy termination, 27% changed their mind once they were personally involved.

Conclusions: The decision to abort a pregnancy for medical reasons is sensitive to religious and social determinants, especially in the current political situation in which abortion may become prohibited in Poland. The high response rate (100%) was probably the result of the patients’ attitudes: they repeatedly emphasised they were thankful for the help and empathy of the medical personnel and for being allowed to undergo the procedure. In Poland, the majority of centres use conscience clauses to justify their refusal to terminate a pregnancy.

Chinese abstract

目的：我们探讨了波兰妇女决定终止妊娠的宗教观点和困境。该文章讨论教会对波兰公民生活高度限制性的立法和重大影响。

方法：本研究旨在调查宗教和政治信仰、社会和道德环境以及专业支持对决定堕胎的影响。在60名参与者终止妊娠的同时, 对其进行了一个65项的问卷调查。

结果：32％的病例在常住县外行终止妊娠。约88％的受访者宣布自己是天主教徒, 但只有22％的受访者打算在供认中承认其终止妊娠。5%的受访者害怕牧师的反应, 而其余的受访者并不认为因医疗原因终止妊娠是有罪的。原先反对终止妊娠的妇女, 在亲自参与后有27％的改变了其观点。

结论：因医疗原因终止妊娠的决定对宗教和社会决定因素很敏感, 特别是在波兰当前可能要禁止堕胎的政治局势中。高应答率（100％）可能是患者态度的结果：她们反复强调, 她们感谢医务人员的帮助和同情, 并被允许接受手术。在波兰, 大多数中心用良心条款来证明他们拒绝终止妊娠。

Keywords:

• Abortion
• attitudes and beliefs
• fetal abnormality
• moral dilemma
• religious dilemma
• termination of pregnancy

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Funding

This work did not receive any specific funding.