Overview

• Andrzej P. received 18 months in prison and a six-year ban on medical practice, Michał M. was sentenced to 15 months without parole plus a six-year ban, and Krzysztof P. drew a one-year suspended sentence, a four-year ban, a fine and a formal apology requirement.
• Izabela was admitted at 22 weeks with ruptured amniotic fluid and confirmed fetal defects; doctors delayed terminating the pregnancy under tightened rules and she died of septic shock within 24 hours.
• The 2020 Constitutional Tribunal ruling that removed fetal abnormalities as grounds for abortion turned Poland’s 1993 law into a near-total ban, creating legal risks that influenced the doctors’ decisions.
• Izabela’s death in 2021 ignited nationwide “Not one more” protests, the largest demonstrations against abortion restrictions since the fall of communism in Poland.
• With parliamentary proposals to liberalize abortion repeatedly stalled and the doctors planning to appeal, the verdict is intensifying debate over medical ethics and the future of Poland’s abortion framework.