By Athena Papakosta

“Stop killing us” chanted protesters in Poland on Wednesday evening calling for the legalization of abortion.

The new protests were sparked by the death of yet another woman due to pregnancy complications. It is about 33-year-old Dorota Lalick, who breathed her last five months pregnant from sepsis caused after the death of the 20-week-old fetus she was carrying.

“No one told us there was no chance of having a healthy baby. Throughout the pregnancy we were given false hope. In the worst case, they told us that our baby would be born prematurely,” said the woman’s husband, speaking to the Mass Media.

According to a representative of patients’ rights, the hospital should have informed the 33-year-old that her life could have been saved if they proceeded with an abortion, but, as he pointed out, the hospital withheld information and therefore violated the rights of the pregnant woman.

The unfortunate woman died on May 24, three days after being admitted to hospital in the southern Polish town of Nowy Targ.

In Catholic Poland, women’s right to abortion is under persecution. In particular, abortions are prohibited with exceptions in cases of rape, incest and if the woman’s life is in danger. However, in 2020 the country’s Constitutional Court ruled abortions in the case of fetal malformation unconstitutional.

For their part, organizations in favor of women’s rights report that now doctors give priority to the fetus over the woman either for ideological reasons or just to avoid the consequences of the law themselves since, if they proceed with an abortion and then it turns out that finally the mother’s health was not in any danger then they could end up in prison for three years.

There are even allegations that hospitals have denied abortions to women who were at risk simply because there was a fetal heartbeat. As a result, women either travel abroad, have illegal abortions, or, pro-abortion activists and victims’ families complain, die.

Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice party PiS “gave the medical community the opportunity, the excuse, to torture patients and watch them die,” said Marta Lempart, head of the Polish Women’s Strike organization. .

At the same time, the Polish government and anti-abortion organizations in the country accuse pro-abortion organizations of politicizing such tragedies.

But Dorota’s case is not the first, and those on the streets of Poland are shouting in protest to make it the last, calling on doctors to act according to the law and provide legal abortions.

The hospital issued a statement in which it emphasizes that the pregnant woman “had been informed about her own health as well as the health of her child” and adds that she “understood the situation”. Of course, the media in Poland do not fail to point out that the hospital in question, for reasons of principle, never performs abortions.

According to the latest figures in Poland of around 38 million, only 107 abortions were performed in 2021 alone, but women’s rights groups estimate that every year up to 200,000 more are performed illegally (e.g. with pills) or abroad.

Now women and not only are back on the streets. “We want to ring the bell of danger: if you are pregnant, this can happen to you too if you are not prepared, if you are not ready to fight for your life,” notes Marta Lempart, emphasizing that no other woman should die deprived of her abortion