The parliament passed an amendment to the Pharmaceutical Law on Thursday, which stipulates that people over the age of 15 will be able to buy so-called emergency contraception without a prescription. The Health Minister announced a few days ago that the amendment could go into effect on April 1, but will it? President Andrzej Duda announced a few hours after the Sejm's decision that he would not sign the bill.

The reason is the age limit - 15 years of age or older. The president's associates have stipulated from the beginning of work in the Sejm on this project that it is the age caesura that will be crucial, making it clear that the head of state may accept a solution in which prescriptions are not needed by adults, while he will not agree to sign the bill if it is permissible to sell these drugs without a prescription to younger people.

On Polsat TV, Andrzej Duda reaffirmed his position. He called the morning-after pill a hormone bomb and recalled that it was on his initiative in previous years that the Sejm passed a ban on the use of tanning beds for minors.

The age limit had previously divided the Sejm - Law and Justice divided on the bill, with some MPs wanting to reject it altogether, supporting the Confederation's motion, while others voted against the motion, demonstrating their willingness to support the bill on the condition that the "liberation" of the pill would apply only to adults. When the Sejm rejected the minority motions, almost the entire Law and Justice club voted against the bill (although a relatively large number of deputies did not take part in the vote). But the rupture - the first in this term - was also evident on the ruling coalition's side. Seven PSL-TD deputies voted against the bill. The People's Party had already signaled that there was no unity in their club and that some deputies were strongly opposed to the sale of over-the-counter emergency contraception to minors.

The bill will now go to the Senate, which is scheduled to meet on March 6-7.