Protesters laid wreaths and candles on the streets of Warsaw on Tuesday night in memory of Agnieska T., who died at the age of 37. The woman was pregnant with twins, and when a baby’s heartbeat stopped, the doctors refused to terminate her pregnancy. In a press release, the woman’s family, the mother of three children, accused the government of having “blood on their hands”. Other protests are planned in Częstochowa, a town in southern Poland where the 37-year-old woman was from.
Her husband begged the doctors to save Agnieszka. They invoked abortion law
Agnieszka was first admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Częstochowa on December 21, suffering from abdominal pain. She was in her first trimester of pregnancy and was in “good physical and mental condition” at the hospital, according to her family. On the same day, the heartbeat of one of the twins stopped and, according to the family, the doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy, citing the current abortion legislation. One week later, the second fetus died, but doctors waited two more days before giving birth on December 31.
The first fetus died in the womb on December 23, but doctors refused to remove it, citing abortion laws, and the woman’s family claims that “her condition has deteriorated rapidly.” The hospital waited until the second twin’s heartbeat stopped a week later, and then waited another two days before aborting on December 31. The hospital staff then called a priest to bury the twins, the family said. Agnieszka was subsequently removed from the gynecology ward and her health continued to deteriorate. The family suspects that he died of sepsis, although the hospital announced in a press release that the cause of death had not been identified.
“Her husband begged doctors to save his wife, even at the cost of her pregnancy,” Agnieszka’s twin sister, Wioletta Paciepnik, said on Tuesday. Shortly after Agnieszka’s death, her family posted a statement on Facebook accusing the hospital of negligence, along with a disturbing video of the woman’s last days.
“We are protesting so that no one else dies”
The women’s rights organization All-Poland Women’s Strike (OSK) has called on people across the country to picket the offices of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) and organize roadblocks in the coming days.
“We continue to protest so that no one else dies. Prohibition of abortion kills. Another person died because the necessary medical procedure was not performed in time, “said protest organizer Marta Lempart.
“We want to honor the memory of my beloved sister and save other women in Poland from a similar fate,” Wioletta Paciepnik said in a video. Agnieszka’s case is now being investigated by Katowice regional prosecutors, who are also investigating the Izabela case.
The representative of the Agnieszka family, Kamila Ferenc, from FEDERA (Federation for Women and Family Planning), confirmed that a court ordered the autopsy of the woman’s body. According to a statement from the hospital where she was hospitalized, Agnieszka tested positive for COVID-19 before her death, although she had tested negative twice at the first hospitalization. “We emphasize that the hospital staff made every effort to save the patient,” said the medical unit.
One year after the abortion ban in Poland. And a series of tragedies
January 28 marks one year since Poland adopted one of the most restrictive abortion laws on the European continent. Currently, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape or incest or when the pregnancy is life threatening. A court ruling allowing the ban sparked huge protests when it was issued in October.
The October ruling of the Constitutional Court found that a 1993 law allowing abortion in cases of serious and irreversible abnormalities of the fetus was unconstitutional. In 2019, 98% of abortions were performed for these reasons in Poland, which means that the ruling effectively banned the vast majority of abortions. The ruling sparked massive protests from abortion advocates.
However, Poland’s conservative government, which is closely linked to the country’s strong Catholic Church, supports the ruling. The court justified its decision by arguing that “an unborn child is a human being” and therefore deserves protection under the Polish Constitution, which ensures the right to life.
Poland already had some of the most restrictive European abortion laws, and about 1,000 abortions were performed each year, the BBC wrote at the time. About 200,000 Polish women have illegal abortions or travel abroad for this procedure.
Agnieszka’s case is not the only one in which the ban on abortions has led to tragedy. In September 2021, another woman, Izabela, died after being denied medical treatment in the 22nd week of her pregnancy, when “her water broke”. Her family claims that the 30-year-old was denied abortion or caesarean section and that the hospital invoked the country’s abortion laws. An investigation found that a “medical malpractice” led to Isabella’s death, and the hospital was fined. Shortly afterwards, an anonymous man from Świdnica in southwestern Poland claimed that his wife, Ania, had died in similar circumstances last June.
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