Abortion law inflames Poland, street protests

Protests in Poland over the new abortion law after the death of a 30-year-old woman. Tens of thousands of people protested in Warsaw and other cities in Poland against the restrictive anti-abortion law following the death of a young woman. Izabela, 30, died in September in a hospital in the southern city of Pszczyna, where she was hospitalized following a loss of amniotic fluid in the 22nd week of pregnancy. According to the family lawyer, Jolanta Budzowska, the doctors chose to wait for the fetus to die in order not to perform an abortion. But when the fetus died it was too late and Izabela, already the mother of a nine-year-old girl, died of septic shock. An investigation by the prosecutor has been opened on the matter, but many Poles accuse the restrictive law against abortion of the young woman’s death. Last year the Constitutional Court ruled the unconstitutionality of abortion in case of congenital defects of the fetus. Abortion is allowed only in case of threats to the mother’s life, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. For those who help or perform an abortion, the penalty is three years in prison. The court’s ruling was met with street protests across Poland. Yesterday, reports the BBC, the Ministry of Health tried to clarify the guidelines of the law stating that if the mother’s life is in danger, doctors “should not be afraid to make obvious decisions” relating to termination of the pregnancy.