Katarzyna Gęsiak: Death of pregnant Agnieszka another case used heartlessly by abortion proponents

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· Family of a dead pregnant patient hospitalised in Częstochowa posted a statement on social media.

· A Polish abortion rights organisation has been disseminating unjustified claims that the death of Agnieszka resulted from the law that has been in force in Poland since the ruling passed by the Constitutional Tribunal on 22 October 2020 (case ref. 1/20).

· Meanwhile, the Tribunal’s ruling concerned the unconstitutionality of eugenic abortion performed to take the life of unborn children on the grounds of their health. The ruling does not address a situation in which the death of a child results from medical intervention undertaken to save a pregnant woman whose life is at risk.

The Polish law not only makes it possible but also creates an obligation to save human life, including, naturally, that of a pregnant woman. In the Polish reality, the correct application of this law may turn out to be an urgent problem.

The family of a patient who died in a hospital in Blachownia after having been hospitalised for a few weeks in Częstochowa has posted a statement in social media demanding “justice and redress for the death of (...) wife, mother, sister and friend”. The heartlessness with which the pro-abortion organisation, “Women’s Strike” has exploited another tragic death of a pregnant woman to win support for their demands is astounding.

From the statement, we learn that Agnieszka, who had been pregnant with twins, was admitted to hospital in Częstochowa on 21 December 2021 due to strong abdominal pain and vomiting. The depiction of events suggests that both the above problem and other problems that occurred later during the hospitalisation were ignored by the medical team who failed to take the required actions, which in turn led to significant deterioration of the patient’s health and, ultimately, to her death. Additionally, the statement’s author points to the lack of adequate communication between the Częstochowa hospital and the patient’s family. The text includes a number of rhetorical questions, asking who is responsible for the tragedy – the hospital, Constitutional Tribunal or, perhaps, the “members of parliament voting in favour of anti-abortion law in Poland”?

Contrary to the unfounded claims of the “Women’s Strike”, which has publicised this matter, putting the blame on the Constitutional Tribunal and, to be more precise, its ruling on the unconstitutionality of eugenic abortion, the matter seems to be unrelated to the issue of abortion (we do not know the findings of e.g. the prosecutor’s proceedings yet). It should be stressed that in the case of taking the life of unborn children by means of abortion, the killing of a child is the sole purpose of such an act and the question of a mother’s health is irrelevant in this context. Eugenic abortion, which had been allowed under the Polish law until 22 October 2020, permitted child killing based on suspected medical condition or disability and did not address the question of the mother’s health.

An unborn child’s death resulting from a medical intervention undertaken to save a mother’s life is an entirely different thing. Article 4a(1)(1) of the Act on family planning, human embryo protection and conditions of permissibility of abortion explicitly provides for the possibility to terminate pregnancy in such situations, while other regulations, including the provisions on the profession of medical doctor and those of the Criminal Code order that medical help should be ensured in life-threatening situations. As a result, the suggestion that the Polish law poses an obstacle to taking actions to save the lives of pregnant women is completely unfounded. It is an unjustified interpretation of the law, used instrumentally by pro-abortion circles to enforce their own abortion legalisation demands.

What is surprising is the position of an organisation who claims to stand for women’s rights. Neither Polish nor international law gives women the right to take the life of their child deliberately and intentionally. On the other hand, Polish law provides all of the necessary grounds to take actions to save the lives of pregnant women. It is, however, doubtful that they are correctly applied.

Katarzyna Gęsiak - director of Center of Medical Law and Bioethics of Ordo Iuris