Healthcare reform sparks abortion debate

Legislation that would have expanded abortion rights has been removed from the proposed healthcare reform bill, leaving abortion restrictions where they have been since 1986 and stirring up opposing sides in the pro-life versus pro-choice debate.

The shift is being hailed by pro-life organizations, which are calling it a "springboard for change," in a country that is historically liberal on induced abortion. Those who favor the right to choose see the change as another barrier to broader public discussion on the issue.

The most publicized aspect of the discarded legislation included a plan to expand the availability of low-cost abortions, currently provided to Czech citizens, to all EU citizens - a measure that was challenged in a legal opinion submitted to the Health Ministry by a U.S.-based legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which touts conservative values.

"It was an open tender for opinions, and we were asked by a pro-life organization to refute what the ministry was saying, that the EU had acquired through case law that abortions be provided to people from other member states at a lower prices," said ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiška, citing past resolutions by the European Parliament and Council of Europe that say recommendations to offer easy and legal access to abortion throughout Europe were entirely nonbinding.

"The Health Ministry decided it wanted to expand abortion privileges, and drafted this proposed amendment and didn't expect the public response," Kiška said. "They came up with the first answer - that 'the EU made me do it,' which is almost always not true."

Pro-life campaigners said expanding access to low-cost abortions would make the Czech Republic a center for "abortion tourism," and that the discounted procedure should only be offered to citizens or permanent residents.

"Expanding access to abortion for women in the EU would in practice mean tens of thousands of murdered Polish children," said Zdeňka Rybová, a spokeswoman for the Movement for Life ČR.

However, Linda Sokačová, director of the NGO Gender Studies, said the decision to limit low-cost abortions will allow discrimination against migrants living without public insurance to continue, and that fears about boosting "abortion tourism" are unfounded.

"Abortion tourism can take place illegally," Sokačová said, adding that "studies show that Polish do not travel for abortions, because they find many ways to get illegal ones in their homeland."

Despite repeated attempts over the course of several days to gain clarification of the policy shift, the Health Ministry supplied only limited information about its choice to initially include abortion and then remove it from the healthcare proposal. The ministry finally said only that the price of abortion is "regulated" within the EU, and not for citizens of third-party countries.

"Regarding ... EU pressure to even up the prices for abortion in all member states, the organization of health care and pricing is left entirely up to member states," said ministry spokesman Vlastimil Sršeň. "Logically, it is unrealistic to pay the same amount of money for medical procedure in Romania as you would in Germany."

The proposed abortion reforms, which were scrapped at the end of May, also suggested expanding access to abortions for Czech nationals. The present law allows abortions until 12 weeks of pregnancy and through 24 weeks if there is a medical problem with the child or danger to the mother. Under the reforms, children found during prenatal examinations to be ill would have been able to be aborted at any time during the pregnancy, and minors over 16 years of age would have been allowed to have an abortion without parental consent, changes that pro-life Rybová said would have set a "shameful" precedent.

Sokačová countered that continuing to limit equal abortion access promotes illegal abortions and does little to solve the problem.

"If you increase restrictions on abortions, you won't help to reduce them," she said. "What is important is prevention, like sex education in schools and social programs for women in bad life situations."

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com