Polish patients’ rights ombudsman, Bartlomiej Chmeilowiec, found last week that the hospital violated her rights by withholding information which could have saved her life.

Doctors in Poland say they are operating under a “freezing effect” as a result of a 2020 court decision which judged that abortion due to foetal abnormalities was unconstitutional. 

Doctors who carry out an early abortion face up to three years in jail if prosecutors later decide there was no danger to the mother. Some medics are now afraid to provide abortions because of the law.

And in England last week, we saw the jailing of a woman for procuring a late abortion in a case which both pro- and anti-abortion campaigners recognised as completely tragic. A mother of three will spend a year separated from those children as a result of a prosecution under existing law.

Both cases highlight gaps in laws in different parts of the world and both led to terrible and unwanted outcomes. They have highlighted how unforgiving laws can cost lives and unnecessarily penalise women with unintended consequences.