The death of a young pregnant woman hospitalized after the premature rupture of her membranes has left Poland in a state of shock. At the heart of the wave of indignation: the anti-abortion laws which paralyze the medical profession.
Admitted to the hospital on September 21 after losing her water at 22 weeks pregnant, Izabela was afraid she would not come out alive. In a text to her mother, she accurately predicted the fate that awaits her.
“The child weighs 485 grams. For now, because of the anti-abortion law, I have to stay in bed. They can’t do anything. They wait for him to die or for something to happen. Otherwise, it’s septic shock, I won’t get out of it. ”
“Women are incubators,” the 30-year-old Polish indignantly writes in another message.
Then: “I have 39.9 degrees of fever. Fortunately, I brought my thermometer because no one is checking my temperature. ”
When the young woman’s body began to expel her malformed fetus, the doctors finally resolved to perform a cesarean section. But it was too late. As she feared, Izabela died of septic shock less than 24 hours after being hospitalized in Pszczyny, a small town in southern Poland.
His death, made public at the end of October, sent shock waves across the country. Tens of thousands of outraged messages have flooded social networks under the hashtag #pasunedeplus.
For their authors, Izabela’s death is the direct consequence of the tightening of access to abortion decreed a year ago by the Constitutional Court of Poland.
Poland already had one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws on the planet, which only allowed terminations of pregnancy in cases of rape or incest, danger to the health or life of the mother, or a deformity. fetal.
On October 22, 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that this last exception did not respect the Constitution.
Paralyzing effect
The move had a “chilling effect” on the health care system, says Jolanta Budzowska, a medical errors lawyer who represents Izabela’s family.
“Doctors are more and more afraid of terminating pregnancies, they wait to be sure that the patient’s life is really in danger, because they don’t know how the judicial system will handle their decision,” says Antonina Lewandowska, member of Federa, a federation defending women’s reproductive rights, and coordinator of the NGO Astra Network, a network for sexual and reproductive health in Central Europe.
Both women agree that Izabela’s death was the result of a medical error. But they stress that this error was made in a particular context, and that the decision taken by the Constitutional Court a year ago greatly contributed to it.
The problem is that even if abortion in case of danger to the mother’s life is still allowed, doctors are reluctant to diagnose the existence of such a danger. In Izabela’s case, it was clearly too late.
“From the decision of the Constitutional Court, we predicted that it would lead to deaths,” says Antonina Lewandowska.
The Federa organization is overwhelmed by calls for help.
Over the past year, 13,000 women have called on us, which is three times more than the previous year.
Antonina Lewandowska, member of Federa, a federation defending women’s reproductive rights
In particular, Federa tries to refer women carrying a child suffering from deformities to doctors who are ready to certify that their condition poses a danger to their mental health.
Not a unique case
Izabela’s case is not unique. Since his death, new testimonies have poured into the media. Including that of Ania’s husband, another five-month-pregnant woman, who died of septic shock while doctors waited for her to give birth naturally to a dead fetus, the Onet news site reported.
This wait and see attitude does not always lead to death. A client of Jolanta Budzowska suffered septic shock while waiting for her fetal heart to stop beating, following a premature rupture of the membranes.
“We managed to save her, but she remained in a coma for a long time, she lost her uterus and a kidney”, relates Mme Budzowska.
“Doctors tell themselves that most women survive these situations and they don’t want to take legal liability risks,” she adds.
Especially since the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Poland, Zbigniew Zebro, is known for his anti-abortion positions.
Tightening restrictions on terminations of pregnancy and its impact on medical practices scare women, who are reluctant to father a child, says Antonina Lewandowska.
Women know, for example, that doctors will be reluctant to tell them about a fetal malformation for fear of being faced with a request for termination of pregnancy.
Many women tell us that they are afraid of becoming pregnant, that they do not want to take the risk.
Antonina Lewandowska
Izabela already had a 9-year-old daughter who was orphaned. She also had a husband, now a widower. Her tragic story prompted tens of thousands of women and men to show their outrage across Poland last weekend.
Turning
The two doctors who followed one another at his bedside were suspended. His death is currently under investigation. And the government has issued new guidelines reminding the medical profession that it is legal to perform an abortion when the patient is in danger.
This directive has no legal effect and will not change much, in a general context of stigmatization of abortion, believes Jolanta Budzowska, however.
She believes that Izabela’s tragic story nonetheless marks a turning point. In the short term, women in similar situations will insist more on terminating the pregnancy.
In the long run, the pressures to change “archaic law” will intensify, she predicts.
“Polish women will not forget this story, they will not give up”, summarizes the lawyer.
Because, in the words of Antonina Lewandowska, “Izabela has now become a symbol”.