Abortion and Contraception in Poland

The abortion law in Poland is among the most liberal in the world. Poland is also a predominantly Roman Catholic country with a relatively high percentage of well-educated people. In these circumstances a peculiar countraceptive pattern has developed: most couples irrespective of their education and other socioeconomic characteristics rely on inefficient methods of contraception and the incidence of induced abortion is very high. In the 1977 national survey 9 different contraceptive methods were distinguished and each was investigated separately. Of the women sampled 7370 reported 10920 methods of current contraceptive practice. The most widely used methods were calendar rhythm (34.4%) condom (15.1%) pill (6.9%) and temperature rhythm (3.2%). The remaining methods were: spermicide and jelly (2.5%) IUD (1.6%) cervical cap and diaphragm (0.7%) sponge douching and other (0.6%). Duration of marriage has only a minor effect on the contraceptive method used. There is however a marked difference in method used when examined by education of wife. As education increases there is a reversal in incidence of withdrawal and rhythm. The contraceptive pattern becomes visible in the dual classification of contraceptive methods: traditional versus modern. Poland seems to have adopted a pattern that can be called enforced contraceptive recklessness. (authors modified)