WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — A Polish doctor has been taken into custody after 34 human foetuses were found buried in the garden of her former home, the authorities said on Monday.

Magdalena H a 57-year-old medical pathologist with no previous criminal record — is suspected of using the foetuses to perform experiments and now faces up to 12 years in prison.

Her case has whipped up a storm in traditionally Catholic Poland, with many questioning how she managed to obtain the unborn babies’ bodies in a country with some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe.