“Every woman has right to abortion if health threatened,” says Polish government after latest death

Poland’s health minister, Adam Niedzielski, has announced the creation of a special team to help ensure that pregnant women receive appropriate medical care, including abortions if their health is endangered.

His decision follows the latest death of a pregnant woman in hospital. As in some previous cases, the woman’s family and activists have blamed Poland’s near-total abortion ban for the tragedy. But officials say it was a case of medical malpractice.

The woman in question, named only as Dorota, was admitted to a hospital in the town of Nowy Targ on 21 May when her waters broke in the fifth month of pregnancy. According to family members who spoke with the media, Dorota was told that her pregnancy could be saved.

She was instructed to hold her legs up above her head in order to bring the waters back, and was meant to remain in that position for days. However, Dorota started to develop symptoms including headaches and vomiting, while tests indicated an inflammation was developing in her body, reported the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

On the morning of 24 May, doctors confirmed the death of her foetus. Two hours later, Dorota’s own state became critical and shortly after that she died due to a septic shock. Dorota’s husband blamed the doctors for a lack of transparency in treating his wife.

“No one told us that the death of the foetus was only a matter of time and that the breaking of the waters was dangerous for Dorota,” he told the newspaper. “No one gave us a chance to save Dorota as no one told us that her life is in danger.”

Likewise, a lawyer representing the family stated that Dorota was deprived of the right to choose if she wanted to risk her life or terminate the pregnancy.

“She wasn’t informed that the probability of keeping the pregnancy is minimal and that in her case every hour brings enormous risk for her health and life,” Jolanta Budzowska told broadcaster TVN24.

Under a 2020 constitutional court ruling, abortions in cases where the foetus has been diagnosed with a birth defect were outlawed. That left just two legal justifications for abortion: if the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life or health, or if it results from a criminal act such as rape.

“Every woman whose life or health is threatened at any moment of her pregnancy has the right to terminate it,” said Niedzielski yesterday, announcing the creation of a specialist team to work on “how to avoid mistakes during care of pregnant women”.

Speaking alongside him, the government’s commissioner for patients’ rights, Bartłomiej Chmielowiec, said that an investigation of the case found that a number of “infringements” had taken place in Dorota’s treatment and that her death “is an example of medical malpractice”.

He said that the woman has not received care “in accordance with current medical knowledge” and that her “right to obtain reliable, clear information” about her state of health and treatment was violated. The hospital would be given “detailed instructions” to prevent such situations from occurring again.

After the death of another woman in hospital in 2021, the health ministry issued new guidelines to hospitals on treating complications in pregnancies, with Niedzielski reminding doctors  that “the mother’s life and health are most important”.

However, women’s rights groups and some opposition politicians have argued that the primary blame is not with the hospital and medical staff, but with a legal and political environment that makes healthcare providers reluctant to provide abortions for fear of prosecution.

“The brutal abortion ban…reaps a bloody harvest,” wrote Paulina Matysiak, an MP from The Left (Lewica), pointing to previous high-profile cases of pregnant women dying in hospital. “How many more women have to die for you to open your eyes?”

“How long does the fatality list of the abortion ban and doctors’ cowardice have to be for you to understand that you are criminals and that abortion saves live?” wrote Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike), the group behind mass protests in 2020 and 2021 against the near-total abortion ban.

It has been organising an ongoing series of demonstrations blaming the abortion law and ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party for Dorota’s death.

Main image credit: Anna Lewanska / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Agnieszka Wądołowska

Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna