In Poland, protests have started again due to the rules in hospitals that refuse abortions to women.
The ombudsman ruled that the hospital in Novi Targ was to blame for not telling Dorota Lalik (33) that her life was in danger and that she could be saved by an abortion. “Stop killing us“, protestors throughout Poland shouted tonight, demanding legalization of abortion, after reports of the death of a pregnant woman in hospital in May reached the media. The hospital violated her rights by withholding information, the ombudsman ruled.
The woman died in a hospital in Novi Targ, in the south of the country, on May 24, three days after admission. “No one told us that we practically had no chance of a healthy baby… They gave us false hope all the time that everything would be fine… that in the worst case, the child would be born prematurely. No one gave us a choice or a chance to save mother Dorota, because no one told us that her life was in danger”, Lalika’s husband told Polish media.
Check out the photo gallery from the protest:
New protests over the refusal of abortion: “Stop killing us”
In 2021, Izabela (30) died in the southern town of Pszina in similar circumstances after being denied an abortion, sparking protests and drawing attention to how the 2020 decision affects pregnancies with complications.
Abortion is still legal in Poland if the pregnancy poses a risk to the health or life of the pregnant woman, or is the result of a criminal act such as rape or incest. However, in 2020, Polish the constitutional court judged abortion to be unconstitutional due to the abnormality of the fetus. This ruling has been suspended for Polish doctors, says Jolanta Budzovska, a lawyer representing the Lalik and Izabela families. “If doctors perform an abortion too early and prosecutors then decide that there was no danger to the mother, they can face up to three years in prison.”she told the Guardian in 2021.
Marta Lempart, founder of the All-Polish Women’s Strike, which organized many protests, said: “All pregnant women are at risk the moment they are sent to a Polish hospital. We are afraid of all doctors, because we do not know which ones will act to prevent the death of their patients. This is another hospital death caused by doctors’ decision to deny access to legal abortion. “Once again, we saw how doctors lied and misled the family and passively waited while the patient died of sepsis,” she said.
“The law on abortion in Poland is very restrictive, but doctors deny access to legal abortions. Their interpretation of the law is stricter than the government’s”, she added. Poland’s health ministry responded to Lalik’s death by asking “a team of experts … to issue more detailed standards” for obstetricians.
“In Poland, every woman whose health and life are at risk has the right to terminate a pregnancy, i.e. to have an abortion,” said Health Minister Adam Niđelski on Monday. “Health does not only mean physical health, but also mental health,” he added.
(WORLD)