Poles protest against strict abortion law after pregnant woman dies

News Highlight: On Saturday, protesters turned out in Poland and in other places around the country to decry their restrictive abortion law. Protesters say that the law has led to the death of a pregnant mother with medical problems. The protesters chanted against laws similar to those in Ireland and Northern Ireland, which make abortion illegal unless a woman’s life is in danger. In all, 24 demonstrations were held across Poland Saturday evening.

Poles have protested to repeal a restrictive abortion law that is responsible for a pregnant woman’s death. Protesters in Warsaw and many other Polish cities are demanding the end of the country’s strict abortion laws, which they say has led to the death of a pregnant woman who had medical problems.

The Polish people held portraits of the pregnant woman who died from septic shock. Izabela, 30, died in September but her death became publicly known last week.

Doctors at the hospital held off terminating her 22-week pregnancy, despite the fact that her foetus lacked enough amniotic fluid to survive. Later, when a scan showed the foetus was dead, doctors decided to perform a Caesarean. The family’s lawyer, Jolanta Budzowska, said Izabela’s heart stopped on the way to the operating theatre and she died.

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled last year that terminating a pregnancy with congenital defects violates their constitution.

In a heavily Catholic country, Polish protested for a law change. They conveyed the urgent need to review the strict abortion law as it prevents abortions for foetuses with serious defects as well as those cases where the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother.

Hundreds of Poles came together to protest before the Polish Constitutional Tribunal by lighting up their mobile phones in memory of the woman who died.

“...the anti-abortion law in Poland kills Polish women. It is cruel, it is terrifying,” a woman attending a protest in Pszczyna said in a comment aired by a private broadcaster TVN24.

“It is inhuman and I hope that this situation will contribute in some way so that Polish women will not have to die,” she added.

Featured image: REUTERS

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Written by Ruth Jane