Death Sentence for Polish Women
A year ago, the Polish government instated a full abortion ban, tightening its laws which previously allowed women to access an abortion if the child was likely to be born with severe medical conditions. This abortion ban has already caused young women to die and many to seek out unsafe abortions.
As an EU country, Poland is currently breaking the European Convention of Human Rights rules when a woman is denied an abortion on the grounds that it puts her life at risk. Yet the EU court has done nothing for this cause, and the law remains in place despite many ongoing protests across the country, as the government blames deaths on doctors.
This ban has in fact been a death sentence for one woman in particular in Poland. Just a few months ago, a young pregnant woman, Agnieszka T, died from what was likely septic shock after doctors refused to remove one of the 2 fetuses from her womb after it had died. This was on the grounds that the other fetus's heart was ‘still beating’.
It resulted in the other fetus passing only two weeks later and doctors and family reported that Agniszka’s health deteriorated rapidly after that, with an intense fever that seemed to keep rising. The doctors refused to remove the fetuses until both hearts stopped beating, but it was likely that Agnieszka would have already had infected blood in her system.
As someone coming from Poland, it’s sickening to see the government put their country's women through, and even worse that this law is now in place due to a female politician which is refusing to take responsibility for the issues that these laws have caused.
Poland currently has the strictest abortion rules in the whole of Europe where rape, illness and death of a foetus in many cases are not cause enough for the termination of a pregnancy. Currently, an animal in Poland will have a pregnancy terminated if the pet is in danger, but the same is not extended to women and those with a uterus in the country.
Many people protesting in Poland are seen wearing a red thunderbolt, which has become the main symbol of the rebellion against the current law, as well as the phrase ‘Wyrok na kobiety’, which translates to a sentence on women.
This now comes with America seemingly following in Poland’s footsteps, with many states revising their abortion laws to make them as strict, if not stricter than Poland.
People with a uterus should have autonomy over their own bodies and government officials, especially cisgender men, should not have the right to take that away. By banning abortions, Poland has simply created a larger problem as people will still get abortions, but many of them will now be done in unsafe and unsterile environments.
Following the case of the woman dying, the Polish government issues a statement ‘reminding’ doctors that abortions should happen if it means saving the life of the mother, but many doctors still fear breaking laws in these situations, as the government try to blame the woman’s death on malpractice from the doctors, and not for the unclear wording of the current laws.
Tens of thousands of people protested in the capital Warsaw, where chants of "her heart was beating too" and "not one more" were heard. An estimated 200,000 women have abortions illegally or travel abroad for the procedure every year, and the number will only rise with the tightening of the laws
Polls have already shown that despite Poland being a devoutly Catholic country, 59% of the population disagrees with the current abortion rulings. - BBC
“Nine leading international human rights organizations have filed third-party interventions to the European Court of Human Rights in these cases, including Amnesty International, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network (IPPF EN), Women Enabled International, Women’s Link Worldwide, and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).” - Amnesty international
Despite these efforts, Poland’s abortion laws are not changing, and more and more women will die from unsafe abortions across the country unless something is done to stop this.