Abortion law: Polish women on the street, protests across the country

Poland is back on its feet. The Polish government has severely restricted abortion rights for a long time, and in fact there is an almost total ban on abortion.

After the death of the pregnant 33-year-old, several thousand people in the Polish capital Warsaw have now protested against the rigid law. Women's rights organizations held parallel rallies in more than 50 Polish towns and villages, with protesters chanting "shame" and carrying photos of the late Dorothy Lalique, Spiegel reports.

Lalik died on May 24 in a hospital in Nowy Targ in southern Poland - three days after losing amniotic fluid. According to her family, the 33-year-old died of sepsis caused by the death of her 20-week-old fetus.

The existing law allows termination of pregnancy in case of danger to the life of the pregnant woman. But critics say the rules are so strict that medical staff are afraid to interrupt.

Family lawsuit

The family of Dorothea Lalique accuses the hospital of not initiating the necessary investigation in time, nor did it inform them that Lalique was in danger

"No one mentioned that a miscarriage could have been induced and that Dorota could have been saved because the baby's chances of survival were low," Lalika's husband Marcin told the Gazeta Viborcza newspaper.

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 crime such as rape or incest. However, in 2020, the Polish Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional abortion due to fetal abnormalities. This verdict is a double-edged sword 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 there was no danger to the mother, they could face up to three years in prison," she told the Guardian in 2021

"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, that is, to have an abortion," Health Minister Adam Nidielski said on Monday.

"Health does not only mean physical health, but also mental health," he added.

I.D./Spiegel/Guardian

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