Introduction

In Poland, teenage pregnancy seems invisible. Only a few newspaper articles mention this issue and there is neither political discussion nor a real action plan concerning early motherhood. However, even if the number of teenage pregnancies tends be small, this phenomenon remains significant. Although teenage pregnancy is not publicly discussed, by contrast issues such as sexual and reproductive rights, especially abortion and sex education, are at the centre of the political debate. These highly controversial issues structure the political agenda and define political alliances and divisions, but teenage births remain taboo. The prudishness that characterised the communist period is still predominant in post-1989 Poland. While political elites regardless of their political orientation often condemn teenage sexuality or pretend it does not exist outside marriage, Polish society has experienced rapid socio-cultural changes since the 1980s. Policymakers have been unable to adjust to these changing lifestyles and aspirations. The Church and the state try to control the sex life of Polish citizens or to ban it outside the context of marriage. Moreover, welfare retrenchment and the religious backlash that accompanied the transition to democracy and market liberalism has undermined further the state's ability to implement comprehensive sexual health policies. In this context, it is not surprising that teenage pregnancy remains taboo as it points to a disturbing social reality.

This chapter provides an overview of the dynamics of this phenomenon in Poland and analyses the characteristics of the public debate. The first section presents a statistical analysis. The second section analyses the issues of contraception and abortion. The third section analyses current sex education programmes and the public debate surrounding this very controversial issue underlining the rather conservative approach that prevails in Poland. The fourth section identifies the reasons for the lack of a coherent strategy regarding teenage pregnancy. And finally the conclusion underlines the importance of cultural factors in explaining continuity and change in patterns of teenage pregnancy.

Dynamics of teenage births in Poland and social characteristics of young mothers

With 18.7 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged under 20 in 1998, Poland resulted in 9th position among 28 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (UNICEF, 2001). The dynamics of teenage pregnancy in Poland is rather different from other developed countries (apart from Ireland).