“Not one more”: thousands protest abortion law after latest death of pregnant woman in Poland

Thousands joined protests against Poland’s abortion law in dozens of towns and cities yesterday following the latest death of a pregnant woman in hospital.

Activists blame the tragedy on Poland’s near-total ban on abortion, which they say makes doctors fearful of terminating pregnancies even when they threaten the mother’s life. But the conservative authorities say the death was caused by medical malpractice, not the abortion law.

The woman, named only as Dorota, was admitted to hospital in the town of Nowy Targ after her waters broke in the fifth month of pregnancy. She died a few days later due to septic shock after doctors sought to save the foetus rather than terminate the pregnancy.

She is at least the seventh woman known to have died as a result of pregnancy complications since the tightening of the abortion law under a Constitutional Tribunal ruling in October 2020 that outlawed terminations in cases when foetal abnormalities are diagnosed.

Yesterday, protests took place in around 40 towns and cities under the slogan “Not one more”. Protesters waved placards saying “A state cursed, not blessed”, “Pregnancy by choice, not by terror” and “Women’s Hell”. Some held up photographs and names of Dorota and other pregnant women who have died in hospital.

“Dorota from Nowy Targ is dead because Poland’s anti-abortion law kills and makes doctors into political minions instead of healthcare experts,” wrote the organisers of the protests. “Haven’t enough of us died yet?”

However, supporters of Poland’s abortion law – which is the strictest in the European Union apart from Malta’s complete ban – note that the rules still allow abortion in cases where the mother’s health or life is threatened by the pregnancy.

They argue, therefore, that in cases such as Dorota’s it is not the law that is to blame but doctors who fail to offer proper treatment.

The health minister, Adam Niedzielski, accused activists of exploiting the tragedy for political purposes. “The ease with which [opposition] politicians or NGOs with no expertise can pass judgement seems to be a huge abuse,” he said.

Jaroslaw Kaczyński, the leader of the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, also accused those behind the protests of creating a “delusional reality” through their “dishonesty” and “propaganda”, reports TVN24.

At the start of the protests, the hospital in which Dorota died issued a statement expressing sympathy with her family. They said they “are committed to clarifying the matter” but claimed that she had been “cared for and looked after” during her stay.

The attorney for Dorota’s family, Jolanta Budzowska, however, said that the hospital had failed to inform Dorota that “the chances of foetal survival were minimal” and lay out all the options available to her. “She was deprived of her right to a decision,” said Budzowska. Dorota’s husband has made similar claims.

Many women’s rights groups argue that, while the law does still allow abortions in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, hospitals and doctors are reluctant to provide them due to fear of prosecution.

Since the new stricter law came into force, official data show that, while the number of abortions performed fell dramatically, the infant mortality rate increased over the same period.

The number of women between the ages of 18 and 45 planning to have children has also decreased, with over half of Poles saying that the near-total abortion ban has made people more reluctant to have children. Meanwhile, support for abortion on demand has risen to a record 70%.

Main image credit: Maciek Jazwiecki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.