Nfter the death of a pregnant woman undergoing hospital treatment in Poland, several thousand people across the country protested on Wednesday against the country’s near-total ban on abortion. Women’s rights organizations organized rallies in more than 50 Polish towns and villages, with protesters shouting something like “shame” and carrying photos of the late Dorota Lalik.
Lalik died on May 24 in a hospital in Nowy Targ, southern Poland – three days after losing her amniotic fluid. According to her family, the 33-year-old died of sepsis caused by the death of her 20-week-old fetus in her abdomen.
The existing law allows an abortion in case of danger to the life of the pregnant woman. But critics say the rules are so strict that doctors are afraid to abort.
Serious family allegations
Lalik’s family accuses the hospital of not having initiated the necessary investigation in time – nor having informed them that Lalik was in mortal danger. “No one mentioned that they could have caused a miscarriage and saved Dorota because the baby’s chances of survival were slim,” Lalik’s husband Marcin told Gazeta Wyborcza.
Prosecutors opened an investigation into Lalik’s death. Also in two similar deaths of pregnant women in the hospital is determined.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned against “politicizing” the case of Dorota Lalik when asked about the impact of the restrictive abortion law. Katarzyna Kotula of the left-liberal Wiosna party demonstrating in Warsaw on Wednesday said: “Everything is political when you are a woman in Poland”.
“Because of political decisions, women are dying in Polish hospitals – and others are just afraid to get pregnant,” she continued.
