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 make a citizen’s arrest of the doctor. However, instead, he himself faced criminal charges for assault over the incident.
Under Poland’s abortion laws, which are among the strictest in Europe, abortion is only allowed in two circumstances: if the pregnancy resulted from a criminal act, such as rape or incest; or if it threatens the woman’s life or health.
In the case in question, a pregnant woman – identified by Gazeta Wyborcza, the newspaper that first reported the story – learned late in her pregnancy that her child might suffer from congenital bone fragility. Despite psychiatric certification indicating a risk to her mental health, her request for an abortion was denied by the hospital in Łódź where she sought treatment. Instead, she was placed in solitary psychiatric confinement against her will.
Eventually, another doctor, Gizela Jagielska, at a hospital in Oleśnica, agreed to perform the abortion, which took place in October 2024, when the woman was in her ninth month of pregnancy.
Prosecutors in Oleśnica subsequently launched an investigation to determine whether the abortion had been carried out in violation of the law. However, they announced that they had dropped the case after determining there was no wrongdoing (except that they delayed the abortion of course).
They said they had found a “lack of the elements of a prohibited act”.
Last year, after Poland’s ruling coalition failed to agree on how to liberalise the abortion law, the government published guidelines for doctors and prosecutors, with the aim of ensuring that they “take the women’s side” when making decisions on the issue.
In cases where the woman’s life or health are deemed at risk from a pregnancy, Polish law does not impose any time limits on abortion. However, this case prompted the Polish Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians to call on the Health Ministry to clarify the legal interpretation of the existing abortion regulations.
Before the prosecutors had publicly announced their decision not to prosecute, Gizela Jagielska revealed on social media that she was leaving the hospital in Oleśnica after her contract was not renewed. “After 10 years of building the maternity ward in Oleśnica from scratch, you will no longer find me there. This is not my decision,” she said in a recording posted on Facebook. Her husband, the head physician of the same department, is also leaving his position. The couple were among other doctors whose contracts had not been renewed.
In April this year, Dr Jagielska was targeted by a far-right leader, who at the time was standing as a candidate in Poland’s presidential elections (where he eventually finished fourth, with 6.3%% of the vote.
Braun entered the hospital in Oleśnica, confronted Dr Jagielska, and attempted to make a “citizen’s arrest”. Following a separate investigation into that incident, prosecutors decided to bring charges against Braun for deprivation of Dr Jagielska’s liberty (by preventing her from leaving her office), violating her bodily integrity (by pushing her and holding her down), as well as insulting and slandering her. As a Member of the European Parliament, Braun had enjoyed immunity from prosecution. However, following a request from Poland’s prosecutor general, the European Parliament last month voted overwhelmingly to strip Braun of immunity, and he was prosecuted for the way he attacked Dr Jagielska.
SOURCE: Notes from Poland, 11 December 2025. VISUAL: Mart Production/Pexels.