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In Poland, birth control pills are only available with a prescription. There appears to be a six-cycle maximum for prescriptions. After six months, women may need to obtain a new birth control prescription.<ref>[http://ocsotc.org/wp-content/uploads/worldmap/worldmap.html Global Oral Contraception Availability]</ref> From 1952-1989, Poland was under communist rule as the Polish People's Republic, and it served as a satellite state of the Soviet Union. During these years, birth control pills were legal and widely accessible. However, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the Polish People's Republic, the Catholic Church became increasingly powerful in Polish society. Today, this has created an environment in which doctors or pharmacists can refuse to sell birth control to women. Some have called the situation in Poland a "sexual revolution in reverse," as Polish society seems to be undoing years of social progress.

Historically, some of the earliest changes came in 1991, when the Polish government removed subsidies for birth control, thereby tripling the price. As reported by the New York Times in 1991, "Since June 1989, when Poland's first non-Communist leaders in half a century took office, elements in the country's Catholic church have been pressing for parliamentary adoption of laws reflecting the church's social agenda. In the last year the Government has introduced voluntary religion classes in the public schools and tightened divorce laws."<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/09/world/poland-ends-subsidies-for-birth-control-pills.html Poland Ends Subsidies for Birth Control Pills]</ref> In the past few years, the Catholic Church has vocally opposed public education on family planning, LGBT rights and sex education. The Church was most recently inflamed by "gender workshops," which encouraged sex education for young people. In response, the Church supported posters that stated “Protect Your Child Against Gender," which were plastered around schools in 2013.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/opinion/sierakowski-the-polish-churchs-gender-problem.html?_r=2 The Polish Church’s Gender Problem]</ref> As reported by the New York Times in early 2014, "Almost every day there are new pronouncements warning against gender ideology, for example, as when a priest commented in a talk in Poznan that 'gender leads to the devastation of families' and 'is associated with radical feminism, which advocates for abortion, the employment of women and the detention of children in preschools.'"<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/opinion/sierakowski-the-polish-churchs-gender-problem.html?_r=2 The Polish Church’s Gender Problem]</ref>

Overall, Polish society is at a crossroads. Birth control pills are still legal, but sex education is very limited and, as reported by the New York Times, "even scientists speak in one voice with the church..."<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/11/poland-sexual-revolution-reverse-education-contraception Poland is having a sexual revolution in reverse]</ref> This means that less and less women may be educated on contraceptives in the future, and there may be increasing problems related to accessibility, information and social stigma.