Ewa Kopacz AUD is the only female and incumbant head of the lower house of parliament ("Marshal of the Sejm") in the history of Poland. The Marshal of the Sejm is de facto also the head of the whole of parliament and substitutes the President in case of that office's vacancy. Thus, Kopacz is the only female holder of one of senior state positions since 1586. She is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 politician, pediatritian and general practitioner

General practitioner

A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...

. She was elected to the Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

 on September 25, 2005, receiving 14982 votes in 17 Radom

Radom

Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...

 district as a candidate on the Platforma Obywatelska list. She has been Minister of Health

Ministry of Health of the Republic of Poland

Ministry of Health of the Republic of Poland is one of the Ministries of the Republic of Poland. Its current minister is Ewa Kopacz.-Ministry of Health :* Witold Chodźko * Tomasz Janiszewski...

 since November 2007.

She was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005.

In 2009 Kopacz became an international presence on the Internet by requesting pharmaceutical companies to present the advantages of swine flu

2009 flu pandemic

The 2009 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the second of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus , albeit in a new version...

 vaccines

Flu vaccine

The influenza vaccine, also known as flu shot, is an annual vaccine to protect against the highly variable influenza virus. Each injected seasonal influenza vaccine contains three influenza viruses: one influenza type A subtype H3N2 virus strain, one influenza type A subtype H1N1 virus strain, and...

, and demanding they take full responsibility for the side effects. She advised the Polish government to wait until proper testing had been done on the vaccine before investing in it, citing the fact that seasonal flu exceeds the current WHO criteria for pandemic every year but there has been no declaration of a pandemic of this much more dangerous seasonal flu.

Pro-life activists in Poland had called for her excommunication after she was involved in arranging an abortion for a 14-year-old woman, citing canon 1398

Canon 1398

Canon 1398 is a rule of canon law which declares that a person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.-Historical roots:...

, which automatically sanctions anyone who allows for the procedure to occur.

External links

• Ewa Kopacz - parliamentary page - includes declarations of interest, voting record, and transcripts of speeches.