The Polish Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (PTGiP) asked the Minister of wellness of Izabela Leschina to urgently clarify the provisions concerning the alleged abortion. The impulse to act became a dramatic case from March, erstwhile 1 of the Lower Silesian hospitals killed a kid in 36 weeks of pregnancy.
Let us remind you: after the judgement of the Constitutional Court of October 2020, the condition concerning serious defects of the kid has been removed from the law. There are only 2 options for the legal termination of pregnancy: the hazard of a woman's life or wellness and the consequence of a prohibited pregnancy.
However, as doctors point out, while in the second case there is simply a clear limit of 12 weeks, in the event of a threat to the life or wellness of the mother, the legislator did not foresee any time limit. It creates a space for dramatic abuse.
After week 24, it's a birth – not an abortion
The PTGiP board recalls that from both a medical and legal point of view, after 24 weeks of pregnancy we are no longer talking about abortion, but about childbirth – even if premature.
The word ‘abortion’ comes from Latin – ‘abortus’ means abortion. We're talking about a miscarriage by week 23. After 24 weeks we are dealing with childbirth" - explains Prof. Piotr Sieroszewski.
Prof. Piotr Sieroszewski points out that the boundary between abortion and childbirth is not contractual – it is due to biology and medicine. By the 23rd week of pregnancy, the kid is most frequently incapable to last outside the womb and the abortion procedure is referred to as “abortion”. However, after week 24 – that is, erstwhile the fetus reaches the ability to live on its own – each termination of pregnancy should be treated as a childbirth. Talking about abortion at week 36 is so an abuse. In fact, we are dealing with a situation in which a kid could be born and alive – and his conscious killing is no longer within the limits of the medical sense of the word "abortion". It's a dramatic crossing the line between medicine and ethics.
This kid had a chance to live.
Professor Sieroszewski, Head of the Department of Pregnancy Pathology at the Medical University of Łódź, consulted a pregnant female with an unborn kid suffering from congenital bone fractures. He emphasizes that the kid was in good condition and could have lived.
"It was 36 weeks pregnant. The baby weighed almost 2 kilos. Very many children with broken bones function well, make intellectually normally. Polish law prohibits the killing of specified a child" - said the prof. in an interview with PAP.
The female refused the C-section and checked out of the hospital. She went to another facility in Oleśnica, where, according to reports, abortions were carried out by induction of asystole, which involves injecting potassium chloride straight into the child's heart. It's a procedure known for euthanizing unborn children.
Abortion or euthanasia? Questions about the moral and legal boundary
The kid was killed by Dr. Gizel Jagielska. It claims to have acted in accordance with WHO and FIGO global guidelines. However, even she admits that the Polish law lacks the definition of abortion.
However, Article 152(3) of the Penal Code clearly states: “Who interrupts pregnancy erstwhile a conceived kid attains the ability to live independently outside his mother’s body is punished from 6 months to 8 years in prison”. Didn't the baby have that ability in week 36?
It's the D.A.'s office.
The territory Attorney's office in Oleśnica initiated an investigation. Although Dr. Jagielska has not yet been summoned, the substance raises immense emotions and questions about work – both moral and criminal.
An open gate leads to abuse
As a result, a legal gap – a kind of "furtka" – has been created, which allows the concept of a woman's wellness hazard to be interpreted in a very broad way, frequently limited only to the opinion of a psychiatrist. It is becoming increasingly apparent that this gate can be utilized to circumvent the existing rules for the protection of human life.
It was this "hole in law" that Minister Leschina called dramatic – however, the deficiency of decisive action to close it leaves the field for dangerous precedents in which the child's life can be threatened only on the basis of subjective assessment of the mother's intellectual well-being.
The law must defend life from conception – without exceptions and understatements
The current legal situation, full of gaps and ambiguities, requires an immediate consequence from the legislator. A clear definition of abortion and clear rules are needed, which will not only specify legal boundaries but, above all, will unconditionally defend all human life – from conception.
There must be no consent to abuse of the "mental health" condition, which present frequently becomes a gateway to circumventing the law and decision to kill the child. Objective, well-defined medical criteria and supervision of their application are needed to guarantee that the law is not an instrument of death but of life.
Only then will you truly stand on the side of the most vulnerable. Only then will the law become a tool of justice, not dramatic exceptions. Human life is not negotiable – and the time to fight for it is now.
jb
Source: PAP
