Thousands of people took to the streets across Poland on Saturday to protest abortion laws, which ban abortion in almost all cases, after the death of a pregnant woman renewed debate on the issue.
An decision of the Constitutional Court of Poland, one of the most Catholic countries in Europe, ruling that abortion for fetal malformations is against the country’s constitution came into force in January, leading to an almost complete ban on voluntary termination of pregnancy and leading to widespread protests.
The marches were held in several Polish cities, including Pszczyna in southern Poland, where the deceased woman lived. Many participants in the demonstration carried candles and posters with the words “none more” and “indifference is complicity.”
The death of 30-year-old Isabela from septic shock in the 22nd week of pregnancy is being seen by women’s rights advocates as a result of the new rules: Isabela was admitted to the hospital after the water broke, and an ultrasound scan showed various malformations in the fetus. But doctors did not terminate the pregnancy, arguing that they will not do this while the fetus’s heart is still beating.
When imaging showed that this had happened, Isabela was taken to the operating room for a caesarean section, family lawyer Iolanta Budzowska said. The pregnant woman’s heart stopped on the way to the operating room, and she died.
“Her heart was beating too,” other posters said at demonstrations against the very restrictive law that has been in place since then. January, which allows women to have an abortion only in cases of rape, incest and a serious risk to the health of the mother, not permitting the procedure in case of fetal malformation – the latter was the reason for 98% of voluntary interruptions in the process of childbirth. pregnancy.
“Polish anti-abortion law is killing Polish women. It’s cruel, it’s terrible, ”a woman told the private television channel TVN24 at a protest in Pszczyna. “This is inhuman, and I hope that this situation will somehow contribute to the fact that Polish women do not have to die.”
Onet published an interview with the husband of another woman, who, he said, died in June under similar circumstances.
The government claims that it is not the law that is responsible for Isabela’s death, but the doctors’ mistake. Health Minister Adam Nedzelski said he asked the Obstetrics and Gynecology Council to publish guidelines explaining when termination of pregnancy is legal and a woman’s safety is the reason for it, he told RMF Radio.
