European Commission to consider fund for EU-wide access to abortion

The European Commission will study a proposal to create a fund to help women access safe abortions when they cannot do so in their own countries due to restrictive laws, following a citizens’ campaign that gathered one million signatures across the EU.

By Paula Soler & Marta Iraola Iribarren
Oct 3, 2025

At 26 weeks pregnant, Mirela Čavajda found out her baby had a grave medical condition and would either be born with life-threatening conditions or most likely die before birth.

When Čavajda sought medical support in Zagreb, doctors at four different hospitals refused her request, some without explanation, while others said they could not confirm the diagnosis or did not have the necessary conditions to perform the procedure.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/10/03/european-commission-to-consider-fund-for-eu-wide-access-to-abortion

03.10.2025

News

Andrea Prudente

conscientious objectors

European Commission

European Court of Human Rights

Hadja Lahbib

Izabela death

Mirela Čavajda

My Voice My Choice campaign

Doctors jailed over death of pregnant woman that sparked mass abortion protests in Poland

Jul 17, 2025
Notes from Poland

Three doctors have been handed prison sentences for their negligence in treating a pregnant woman who died in hospital under their care. Her death in 2021 prompted mass protests against Poland’s near-total abortion ban, which had been introduced earlier that year.

The 30-year-old woman, Izabela, was admitted to hospital in the 22th week of her pregnancy following a premature rupture of membranes. Her foetus, which had severe developmental defects, subsequently died, and then so did Izabela herself soon after due to septic shock.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/07/17/doctors-jailed-over-death-of-pregnant-woman-that-sparked-mass-abortion-protests-in-poland/

Doctors charged over death of pregnant woman in Polish hospital that prompted abortion protests

May 30, 2025
Notes from Poland

Three doctors have been charged over the death of a pregnant woman, named only as Dorota, while she was in hospital under their care. Prosecutors found that “there was a failure to undertake appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, which led to the patient’s death”.

Dorota’s death in 2023 prompted mass protests against Poland’s near-total abortion ban, which activists blamed for the doctors’ decision not to terminate the pregnancy despite it threatening the woman’s life. It also led the then government to take action to ensure pregnant women receive appropriate medical care.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/05/30/doctors-charged-over-death-of-pregnant-woman-in-polish-hospital-that-prompted-abortion-protests/

30.05.2025

News

Dorota death

Izabela death

John Paul II Hospital

Polish activists say new abortion guidelines not good enough

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has resorted to stopgap measures to placate women's rights activists after he was unable to fulfill his promise to liberalize the country's restrictive abortion law.

Monika Margraf in Warsaw
Aug 17, 2024

"I remember when only 50 people came to my protests in defense of women's rights in 2016," said Anna Sikora. "After four years, almost 2,000 people took part in the protests. Most of them also took part in the last parliamentary elections as I called on them to do."

Sikora, a mother of two from the central city of Sieradz, is a left-wing activist and local leader of women's protests that have swept Poland and mobilized women against the Catholic-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), which led the country from 2016 to 2023. Their hopes for changes to the abortion law made the party's electoral defeat possible in fall of 2023.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/polish-activists-say-new-abortion-guidelines-not-good-enough/a-69964722

Death of pregnant woman that sparked protests in Poland was unrelated to abortion law, say prosecutors

NOV 16, 2023
Notes from Poland

Prosecutors investigating the death of a pregnant woman in hospital – which sparked mass protests against Poland’s near-total ban on abortion – have concluded that the tragedy was unrelated to the abortion law.

The woman, Izabela, died in September 2021 after being brought to hospital in the 20th week of her pregnancy following a premature rupture of membranes. Her foetus subsequently died, and then so did Izabela herself soon after due to septic shock.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/11/16/death-of-pregnant-woman-that-sparked-protests-in-poland-was-unrelated-to-abortion-law-say-prosecutors/

16.11.2023

Law and Justice party

maternal death

Supreme Medical Chamber

6 Stories Show the Human Toll of Poland’s Strict Abortion Laws

By Anna Pamula | Photographs by Kasia Strek for TIME
OCTOBER 13, 2023

Krzysztof Sowinski has cried every day since his wife Marta, who was five months pregnant, died of sepsis in 2022; he believes doctors put Marta’s life in danger by not giving them the option to terminate the pregnancy while the fetus’ heart was still beating. Janusz Kucharski also lost his partner Justyna to sepsis in the fifth month of a pregnancy. She left behind two boys.

It is likely, reproductive-rights advocates say, that these women would be alive if not for Poland's increasingly restrictive abortion laws. Abortion has been illegal in the country since 1993, but a 2020 ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, which went into effect the next year, removed one of the exceptions to the law—fetal abnormalities—and imposed a near-total ban on abortion. Now women can terminate a pregnancy only if the women’s life or health is at risk (including mental health risks with a psychiatric diagnosis) or if there is reasonable suspicion that the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

Continued: https://time.com/6320172/poland-abortion-laws-maternal-health-care/

13.10.2023

Commentary

abortion stories

Barbara Zientek

Bartlomiej Chmielowiec

Debski Clinic

Dorota Lalik

Dr. Gizela Jagielska

Dr. Katarzyna Szamotulska

Dr. Krzysztof Preis

European Court of Human Rights

FEDERA

Foundation for Women and Family Planning

Law and Justice party

Mother and Child Institute

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Poland’s Office for Patients' Rights

total abortion ban

U.N. Committee Against Torture

Poland / UK – Until restrictive abortion laws change, women will continue to suffer

Two recent cases in Poland and England have sparked widespread concern about abortion laws and the role of healthcare professionals in implementing them

BMJ 2023; 382 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1517
Published 05 July 2023
Maria Lewandowska, research fellow in reproductive and sexual health

The past weeks have seen a number of tragic events surrounding abortion in Europe. In Poland, yet another pregnant woman has died of sepsis having been denied a life-saving termination; in Britain, a woman was sentenced to 28 months in prison for taking abortion pills beyond the gestational age limit.

In Poland, abortion laws were relatively liberal during Communism. When democracy was restored in the 1990s, a new, restrictive law was imposed allowing abortion in three narrowly defined cases: when pregnancy carried a risk to the life or health of the mother; when it was a result of a crime; or in the case of severe fetal anomaly.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj.p1517

Poland has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. Izabela Sajbor’s family say those laws are responsible for her death

By Saskya Vandoorne and Melissa Bell, CNN
Wed June 29, 2022

Warsaw, Poland (CNN) Izabela Sajbor knew for weeks that the baby she was carrying was unlikely to live long. On September 22 last year, she realized both their fates were sealed.

"I hope I won't get sepsis because then I won't leave this place," the 30-year-old wrote in a series of distraught text messages to her mother, just 12 hours before she died.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/28/europe/poland-abortion-law-izabela-sajbor-death-intl-cmd/index.html

Poland – She Sent a Woman Abortion Pills. Now She Faces 3 Years in Prison.

Justyna Wydrzyńska is the first activist charged under Poland’s incredibly strict abortion laws. She tells VICE World News it won't stop her helping people who need abortions.

By Ruby Lott-Lavigna
June 16, 2022

WARSAW, Poland – The woman said she needed an abortion. She said she had already tried to leave Poland to get one, but her abusive husband had stopped her, threatening to go to the police. Across the world, a new virus was closing borders, restricting travel and trapping people inside their homes, and Justyna Wydrzyńska, sensing a chilling desperation, decided to send the woman a packet of abortion pills that she’d been keeping for her own personal use.

A year passed. Then out of nowhere, police arrived at Wydrzyńska’s door to search her home – some officers finding more than they anticipated.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/akezek/poland-abortion-justyna-wydrzynska

Poland shows the risks for women when abortion is banned

Katrin Bennhold, Monika Pronczuk
14.06.2022

It was shortly before 11 p.m. when Izabela Sajbor realized the doctors were prepared to let her die. Her doctor had already told her that her fetus had severe abnormalities and would almost certainly die in the womb. If it made it to term, life expectancy was a year, at most. At 22 weeks pregnant, Sajbor had been admitted to a hospital after her water broke prematurely.

She knew that there was a short window to induce birth or surgically remove the fetus to avert infection and potentially fatal sepsis. But even as she developed a fever, vomited and convulsed on the floor, it seemed to be the baby’s heartbeat that the doctors were most concerned about.

Continued: https://www.ekathimerini.com/nytimes/1186635/poland-shows-the-risks-for-women-when-abortion-is-banned/