After a Polish woman was made to have a live foetus for more than a week by draconian abortion laws, protestors accused the Polish government as murder.
The 37-year-old mother-of-three, known only as Agnieszka T, was pregnant with twins, but doctors at the Blessed Virgin Mary hospital in Częstochowa, southern Poland, refused an abortion when she lost one of them within the first trimester, her family said in a statement.
According to family members, she was admitted to hospital with stomach pain and vomiting on December 21. On December 23, the baby died at home.
The doctor refused to take it out, and was operating under new legislation that does not punish the patient, but can see medical staff ordering an abortion to be sent to jail.
Agnieszka, also known as Agnieszka, was admitted to hospital last December 21st. One of her twins was already born and she died the next day. A full nine days later, she was able to have an abortion.
During a demonstration against the Law and Justice party office in Krakow (Poland), a woman held a banner reading “I fear living in such a nation.”
A protester stands in front of Law and Justice’s office wearing a face mask and lighting a candle.
Campaign groups protest outside of the Law and Justice party office in Krakow after the death of Agnieszka T
Agnieszka carried both the live and dead foetus for seven days, until the second heartbeat stopped on December 29th. Doctors waited two more days before terminating the pregnancy. The patient was already in serious condition.
On January 25th, she succumbed to what her family believed was sepsis. However, the hospital did not give an official cause.
According to her family, doctors suggested that she was dying from BSE (also known as mad cow disease) which she contracted while eating raw meat.
The family of the woman posted their Facebook message: “This is proof that the current government does have blood on its hands,” “Throughout all nine days, her unborn child’s bodies were in her body.”
The crime scene: Who is the culprit? Who is responsible for this crime? The Constitutional Court The Constitutional Court?
Agnieszka’s twin sister Wioletta Pciepnik stated that the husband begged for his wife’s life, even at great cost to the child.
The hospital has denied the abortion law influenced the decisions of medical staff, saying in a statement: “The doctor’s actions had not been influenced by anything else apart from medical reasons and the care for the patient and her children.”
Poland has made all abortions illegal, except those that are performed in extremely dangerous circumstances, such as rape or incest. Campaign groups have called for doctors to adopt a wait-and-see approach to pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies in fear of prosecution.
Protests have been under way across Poland since the death of Agnieszka T, with people laying wreaths and lanterns at her memorial in Warsaw and further protests are planned in her home town of Częstochowa.
“We protested against the death penalty and took to the streets. Anybody can experience it. Marta Lempart of the Polish Women’s Strike Movement (the organisation that organized the protests) said, “This time, it was Agnieszka who passed away.”
The ruling party is to blame for her demise. They condemned her death to agony, pain, and suffering. They killed her.
The death investigation has been launched by authorities, and police have seized medical records.