Protesters Call Out Poland's Abortion Law After Pregnant Woman Dies

Thousands of people engaged in a protest in Poland on Wednesday against the country’s regressive abortion laws. This comes in the wake of a five-month-pregnant woman who died of sepsis.

The protesters vented out in fury against the government, the Law and Justice Party, or PiS, and the doctors who refused to perform an emergency abortion despite the woman’s life being at risk. Poland has several reported cases of hospitals refusing to medically terminate pregnancies because the foetus had a heartbeat, even when the woman’s life was at stake.

Protest Against Poland Abortion Laws

"Stop killing us" and "not one more," protesters chanted as they marched through the country’s capital, Warsaw, towards the health ministry headquarters. Some protesters were also carrying placards that read, "We want doctors, not missionaries" and "Hell for women."

The woman lost her life last month at the John Paul II hospital in Nowy Targ, in southern Poland. The hospital is considered an extremely conservative region in the largely Catholic country. The hospital reportedly contains relics of the late Polish pope, and Polish media have alleged that the hospital never performs abortions.

The woman was identified as Dorota Lalik, 33. She arrived at the hospital after her waters broke at five months of pregnancy. The doctors told her to lie back with her legs up, hoping her fluids would be reconstituted. However, the woman’s condition only deteriorated and led to sepsis. She lost her life three days later, on May 24.

Along with the protest, the hospital issued a statement expressing their condolences for the woman and defended themselves by stating that they did their best to save her life. The hospital claimed that they had informed the woman about her and her child’s health and that she understood the situation.

According to the current law in Poland, women have the right to undergo abortion only in cases of rape, incest, or if their lives are under threat. Hence, the government authorities countered that the law wasn’t at fault for the woman’s death. They stressed that the woman had a legal right to abortion since her life was in danger, but the hospital violated her right by denying it.

In 2021, the nationalist government of Poland under Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki introduced a constitutional court rule that banned the termination of pregnancies with foetal defects. Even before Morawiecki’s party came into power, Poland had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.

Feature Image Credit: AP News

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