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Poland tells doctors ill women have abortion rights after fatal delay terminating pregnancy
- Instruction document issued to obstetricians following death of 30-year-old woman
- Her 22-week-old fetus did not have enough amniotic fluid to survive, say family and lawyers
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Poland’s government has issued instructions to doctors confirming 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.
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The November 7 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 a chilling effect on doctors in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
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