Prosecutors drop case against Polish doctor who performed abortion in ninth month of pregnancy

Dec 11, 2025
Notes from Poland

Prosecutors have dropped their criminal investigation into a doctor who performed an abortion on a woman who was in the ninth month of pregnancy. They deemed that she did not violate Poland’s strict abortion laws.

The case made headlines earlier this year, and prompted particular anger among the right-wing opposition. One far-right leader even entered the hospital where it took place and tried to perform a citizen’s arrest on the doctor. However, he himself is now facing criminal charges for assault over the incident.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/12/11/prosecutors-drop-case-against-polish-doctor-who-performed-abortion-in-ninth-month-of-pregnancy/

11.12.2025

News

Gizela Jagielska

Grzegorz Braun

Polish Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians

Poland: End Investigation into Conduct of Doctor who Provided a Lawful Late-Term Abortion

August 28, 2025
Amnesty International

Polish authorities must end the investigation into the conduct of a doctor who provided a lawful late-term abortion and take measures to ensure her safety following physical and online attacks against her, said Amnesty International in a public statement published today.

Dr Gizela Jagielska faces possible prosecution and imprisonment of up to eight years, for lawfully providing an abortion to a woman in a hospital in Oleśnica in Southern Poland in October 2024, on the grounds that the pregnancy posed a threat to her health.

“Abortion is an integral part of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and as essential healthcare, it should not be treated as a crime,” said Monica Costa Riba, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner on Women’s Rights.

Continued; https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/poland-end-investigation-into-conduct-of-doctor-who-provided-a-lawful-late-term-abortion/

28.08.2025

Commentary

Amnesty International

Dr Gizela Jagielska

Grzegorz Braun

Monica Costa Riba

osteogenesis imperfecta

Nawrocki win is ‘devastating blow’ for abortion rights activists in Poland

Any hopes to liberalize the country’s strict abortion rules are lost as the nationalist candidate secured a narrow win.

June 3, 2025
By Claudia Chiappa

Lawmakers and activists are warning that nationalist candidate Karol Nawrocki’s win in the Polish presidential election represents a “defeat” for women’s rights and further threatens abortion access in Poland.

Nawrocki, a self-described football hooligan backed by the right-wing nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party — and by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration — won Poland’s presidential election last weekend, narrowly beating centrist Rafał Trzaskowski.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/nawrocki-win-is-devastating-blow-for-abortion-rights-activists-in-poland/

‘Sculpting within the law’: Where does Poland stand on abortion?

Ada Petriczko
May 12, 2025

WARSAW - Two years after Donald Tusk became Poland's prime minister and promised to reform strict abortion rules, many of the women who supported him are disillusioned and say a May 18 presidential vote is unlikely to bring the change they were promised.

This is despite the fact that a liberal candidate could replace conservative President Andrzej Duda, who has long opposed easing some of Europe's strictest abortion laws.

"I'm still shocked that they reached for our votes when they needed them, and then completely discarded us," said activist Anna Pięta, who helped create a viral campaign that urged women to vote in 2023.

Continued: https://www.context.news/money-power-people/polish-presidential-vote-unlikely-to-resolve-abortion-impasse

‘He kept saying I’m a murderer’: Polish doctor targeted for legal abortion

April 30, 2025
Will Vernon, BBC News in Warsaw

A leading Polish doctor has told the BBC she fears for her patients' safety after being targeted by anti-abortion activists.

Gizela Jagielska says she has received thousands of death threats in relation to her work administering legal abortions in a hospital in the town of Olesnica in southwestern Poland. The facility specialises in complicated pregnancies.

On 17 April, a group of activists led by radical, far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun came to the hospital, prevented Dr Jagielska from leaving her office and attempted to carry out a citizen's arrest.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkg4y5jpjpo

30.04.2025

Poland’s far-right amplifies abortion wars ahead of election

by Barbara Wolk
April 28, 2025

Poland’s abortion debate has once again taken a dangerous turn — this time sparked by far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun, who stormed a Polish hospital to attempt a citizen’s arrest of a doctor performing a medically-indicated late-term abortion. Braun, a presidential hopeful from the extreme-right in the upcoming May elections, accused the doctor of committing “murder,” live-streaming his political stunt to rally his conservative base.

Currently, abortion is only legal in Poland in two circumstances: if the pregnancy is the result of rape (up to 12 weeks), or if the pregnancy poses a threat to the woman's life or health. The third legal reason — severe fetal abnormalities — was abolished in 2020 when the Law and Justice (PiS)-controlled constitutional tribunal ruled it unconstitutional, effectively reducing the number of abortions performed in hospitals by 90 percent. Since then, abortion has become not just a medical issue, but a political weapon of the far-right — used to polarise, control, and distract.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/eu-political/ard15429ac

Polish priest charged with online harassment of gynecologist over abortion

24.04.2025

The police in Lower Silesia have arrested four individuals suspected of online harassment against Dr. Gizela Jagielska, a gynecologist, local daily Gazeta Wyborcza Wrocław reported.

Unofficial sources indicate that one of those arrested in the investigation is a Catholic priest from the Podkarpacie region in southern Poland.

"The arrested individuals face charges of making criminal threats, defamation, and insult," said Beata Ciesielska, the District Prosecutor in Oleśnica, southwestern Poland, in a statement to the Polish state news agency PAP.

Continued: https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7789/Artykul/3514957,polish-priest-charged-with-online-harassment-of-gynecologist-over-abortion

24.04.2025

Beata Ciesielska

Confederation of the Polish Crown

Far-right Polish MEP threatens doctor with ‘citizen’s arrest’ over late-term abortion

Grzegorz Braun’s actions have been condemned by both the Polish justice minister and the country’s equality minister.

April 18, 2025
By Claudia Chiappa

Far-right European Parliament lawmaker and long-shot Polish presidential candidate Grzegorz Braun is facing a potential investigation after he stormed a hospital on Wednesday and threatened a doctor with a citizen's arrest for performing a legal late-term abortion.

Gizela Jagielska said she was signing some administrative documents when a crowd of about 30 men, led by Braun, burst into the hospital around 11 a.m. She said the men surrounded her, stopped her from leaving and told her she should be arrested.

Continued : https://www.politico.eu/article/right-wing-poland-mep-grzegorz-braun-threaten-doctor-citizen-arrest-late-term-abortion-gizela-jagielska/

Polish presidential candidate storms hospital protesting the ‘Anita’ abortion dispute

Paulina Mozolewska, Euractiv
Apr 17, 2025

A Polish gynaecologist was barricaded in an office for over 50 minutes as police intervened in an escalating confrontation with protestors.

Grzegorz Braun, a Konfederacja MEP and Polish presidential candidate, stormed a hospital in Oleśnica on Wednesday, 16 April, accompanied by supporters. Braun attempted a so-called 'citizen's arrest' of Dr Gizela Jagielska, a gynaecologist who performs legal abortions.

Braun accused her of murder and demanded her detention.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/news/polish-presidential-candidate-storms-hospital-protesting-the-anita-abortion-dispute/