In a scene more like a political thriller than a typical day in Polish healthcare, right-wing Member of the European Parliament Grzegorz Braun caused a firestorm on April 16 when he marched into a hospital in Oleśnica, southern Poland, attempting to detain a gynecologist over an abortion performed at 36 weeks.
Braun, who’s also running for president in May, claimed he was carrying out a citizen’s arrest for what he described as the murder of an unborn child.
According to reports, the baby—diagnosed with a serious bone defect—was terminated through an injection of potassium chloride to the heart. The procedure, which occurred in the final weeks of pregnancy, was reportedly done not only due to the fetus’s condition but also to preserve the mental well-being of the mother. Polish law is strict on abortion, allowing it only in limited circumstances, and fetal defects were removed as a legal justification in 2020.
Braun wasn’t having it. Ignoring hospital protocol and, apparently, laws on trespassing, he burst into the maternity ward’s administrative offices with a small entourage. The gynecologist, Giselle Jagielska, later said Braun blocked her from leaving, verbally abused her, and tried to turn the hospital into a campaign stop. She accused him of threatening behavior and putting patients’ lives at risk during the chaos.
Braun, on the other hand, argued the exact opposite. Speaking to the Polish Press Agency, he accused Jagielska of endangering lives and insisted the police should’ve already been there arresting her. “We’re talking about murder,” he declared. “This woman should not be near any patients.”
As the dust settles, legal proceedings are likely. The Interior Ministry has already signaled consequences for those involved in the unauthorized hospital entry, while prosecutors are reviewing the abortion itself. Pro-life advocates and legal scholars, particularly from groups like Ordo Iuris and the Right to Life Foundation, have echoed Braun’s concerns, calling the act an alleged homicide and criticizing what they describe as loopholes in mental health justifications for late-term abortions.
One lawyer, Magdalena Majkowska, argued that mental health exceptions are now being used as a backdoor to allow abortions on demand, in direct defiance of the 2020 Constitutional Court ruling. She and others suggest legal accountability should extend beyond the doctor to the mother as well.
The case has reopened deep divisions in Polish society. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s center-left government issued new guidelines last year expanding mental health exceptions, a move that angered conservatives. Meanwhile, Braun, who once extinguished Hanukkah candles in parliament with a fire extinguisher, continues to make headlines as he campaigns on a nationalist platform opposing EU influence and calling for a return to traditional Catholic values.
One thing’s clear: in the eyes of Braun and many pro-life Poles, this wasn’t just a hospital visit gone rogue—it was a fight over the soul of the country.
