Poland tells doctors: Ailing women have abortion rights
ABC News
Poland's Health Ministry has issued instructions to doctors confirming that it is legal to end a pregnancy when the woman's health or life is in danger
WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's Health Ministry issued instructions Sunday to doctors confirming that it is legal to terminate a pregnancy when the woman’s health or life is in danger, a directive that comes amid apparent confusion over a new restriction to the country's abortion law.
The document addressed to obstetricians comes in reaction to the hospital death of a 30-year-old mother whose 22-week pregnancy had medical problems. The woman died in September but her death became widely known this month. Doctors at the hospital in Pszczyna, in southern Poland, held off terminating her pregnancy despite the fact that her fetus lacked enough amniotic fluid to survive, her family and a lawyer say.
The doctors have been suspended and prosecutors are investigating.
Angered Poles held massive nationwide protests over the weekend, blaming the woman's death on Poland’s restrictive abortion law. Women’s rights activists say it has chilling effect on doctors in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
