Polish woman refused abortion goes to Europe court:
A Polish woman who was refused an abortion despite doctors' warnings that giving birth could damage her eyesight accused Poland on Tuesday of failing to protect her rights under its strict abortion law.
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Tysiac, who is now 35, consulted doctors when she discovered in February 2000 that she was pregnant for the third time. Three ophthalmologists told her she faced serious risk to her eyesight if she carried the pregnancy to term.
However, the three refused to grant her an abortion certificate. A gynaecologist also found there were no medical grounds for terminating the pregnancy.
Following the delivery by Caesarean section in November 2000, Tysiac's eyesight deteriorated considerably due to what was diagnosed as retinal haemorrhage.
I'm no doctor, but this sounds odd to me. I found this, which mentions hypertensive retinopathy. Was this being treated, if it was her problem? Pages such as this one seem to indicate that vision problems during pregnancy are indicative of health problems that should be treated by her obstetrician.
I found Permanent Blindness as a Complication of Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension.
The skeptic in me is awake and wondering. Europe's not such a big place. Traveling to another country is no more a big deal there than traveling to another state is in the US. If she was that concerned that her vision was in danger, how hard would it have been to have gone to one of the less fetus-friendly European countries to get her abortion? Or if she had an underlying problem severe enough to be jeopardizing her eyesight, wouldn't her obstetrician have been the first person to notice something wrong? And wouldn't he have been treating the underlying problem?
Does anybody with any relevant expertise have anything to add?
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