Polish government widely condemned over morning-after pill law

Legislation requiring doctor’s appointment is latest attack
on women’s rights in Poland and violates shared EU values,
says MEP

Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Monday 26 June 2017 14.47 BST

The Polish government has been accused of launching a “sexual counter-revolution” that is an affront to European values after passing legislation reducing women’s access to the morning-after pill.

A law signed off by the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, in defiance of human rights groups and European medicines agency guidelines turns emergency contraception into a prescription drug.

Women and girls 15 and over will now need to make an appointment with a doctor. Polish campaigners and MEPs in Brussels say the change will have the greatest impact on rape victims and those living in isolated areas of the country.

The Dutch liberal MEP, Sophie in ’t Veld, said the legislation was a violation of shared European values.

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