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Prosecutors have dropped their criminal investigation into a doctor who performed an abortion on a woman who was in the ninth month of pregnancy. They deemed that she did not violate Poland’s strict abortion laws.
The case made headlines earlier this year, and prompted particular anger among the right-wing opposition. One far-right leader even entered the hospital where it took place and tried to perform a citizen’s arrest on the doctor. However, he himself is now facing criminal charges for assault over the incident.
Umorzenie śledztwa w sprawie przerwania ciąży przez lekarza Powiatowego Zespołu Szpitali w Oleśnicy https://t.co/D0Z9XadjjZ
— Prokuratura Okręgowa we Wrocławiu (@Prok_Okreg_WRO) December 10, 2025
Under Poland’s abortion laws, which are among the strictest in Europe, abortion is only allowed in two circumstances: if the pregnancy resulted from a criminal act, such as rape or incest; or if it threatens the mother’s life or health.
In the case in question, a pregnant woman – identified by Gazeta Wyborcza, the newspaper that first reported the story, as Anita – learned late in her pregnancy that her child might suffer from congenital bone fragility.
Despite psychiatric certification indicating a risk to her mental health, Anita’s request for an abortion was denied by the hospital in Łódź where she sought treatment. Instead, she was placed in solitary psychiatric confinement against her will.
Eventually, a doctor, Gizela Jagielska, at a hospital in Oleśnica agreed to perform the abortion, which took place in October 2024, when Anita was in her ninth month of pregnancy.
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Prosecutors in Oleśnica subsequently launched an investigation to determine whether the abortion had been carried out in violation of the law. However, on Thursday they announced that they had dropped the case after determining no wrongdoing.
They gave no details of the basis on which their decision had been made beyond that they had found a “lack of the elements of a prohibited act”.
Last year, after Poland’s ruling coalition failed to agree on how to liberalise the abortion law, the government published guidelines for doctors and prosecutors, with the aim of ensuring that they “take the women’s side” when making decisions on the issue
In cases where the woman’s life or health is deemed at risk from a pregnancy, Polish law does not impose any time limits on abortion. However, Anita’s case prompted the Polish Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (PTGiP) to call on the health ministry to clarify the legal interpretation of abortion regulations.
Following controversy over an abortion that took place at 36 weeks, the Polish gynaecologists' society has asked the health ministry to clarify the law.
The case has been criticised by conservative groups, who argue it could even be considered "homicide"https://t.co/skd5KDhV34
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 16, 2025
On Tuesday this week, before the prosecutors had publicly announced their decision, Jagielska revealed on social media that she was leaving the hospital in Oleśnica after her contract was not renewed.
“After 10 years of building the maternity ward in Oleśnica from scratch, you will no longer find me there. This is not my decision,” she said in a recording posted on Facebook. Her husband, the head physician of the same department, is also leaving his position.
The pair were among doctors whose contacts were not being renewed after a public recruitment process held in accordance with regulations, the hospital authorities told newspaper Fakt.
In an interview with broadcaster Tok FM, Jagielska said that she believed the decision to remove her and her husband had “been planned for some time” and that “politics might have played a role”. For the hospital, “it seems that it’s simply more convenient for me not to be there”.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Poland violated the rights of a pregnant woman who had to travel abroad to obtain an abortion after her foetus was diagnosed with a birth defect https://t.co/TgckusMxmJ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 13, 2025
In April this year, Jagielska was targeted by far-right leader Grzegorz Braun, who at the time was standing as a candidate in Poland’s presidential elections (where he eventually finished fourth, with 6.3%% of the vote.
Braun entered the hospital in Oleśnica, confronted the doctor, and attempted to make a citizen’s arrest.
Following a separate investigation into that incident, prosecutors decided to bring charges against Braun for deprivation of liberty (by preventing the doctor from leaving her office), violating the doctor’s bodily integrity (by pushing her and holding her down), as well as insulting and slandering her.
As an MEP, Braun enjoys immunity from prosecution. However, following a request from Poland’s prosecutor general, the European Parliament last month voted overwhelmingly to strip Braun of immunity
Polish far-right leader Grzegorz Braun has again been stripped of immunity by the European Parliament to face charges in Poland, including for inciting hatred against Jews and an incident in which he confronted a doctor involved in a late-term abortion https://t.co/h8CPTKp9DC
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 13, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: MART PRODUCTION/Pexels
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
