She was born in a noble family (bearing Lubicz coat of arms),[1] to Stanisław Sadowski and Maria Zofia nee Kuczker.

Cezaria Jędrzejewiczowa and Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna) a member of the governing bodies of the Association of Polish Women Students – Spójnia, within which she led the section of medics.

As she failed to get the corrections published, Zofia Sadowska took legal action and accused Jerzy Plewiński, editor-in-chief of Express Poranny.

The "great trial with a deep moral foundation", held on 11–16 February 1924 in the 2nd Criminal Division of the District Court at 15 Miodowa Street, attracted enormous interest among the residents of Warsaw and the capital and national press.

During the trial, in which the most famous lawyers at the time were involved on both sides (the accusation Marian Niedzielski, the defense Mieczysław Ettinger and Stefan Perzyński), numerous representatives of the medical community and famous Warsaw actors (Lucyna Messal, Hanka Ordonówna, Maria Majdrowiczówna) testified.

The fact that the trial was called the "Sadowska case" emphasizes that the main topic in the courtroom was the sexual orientation and lifestyle of the accuser.

The tabloid press (acting as a defender of morality) called Sadowska "a social pest" and "an enemy of the state and society", and blamed her for breaking up marriages and leading to at least one suicide.

After the appeal, Plewiński was acquitted, however, as was Henryk Butkiewicz, the publisher of "Kurier Czerwony" (a magazine from the same media concern Dom Prasy SA), whom Sadowska also sued for libel.

The third case brought by her, against the private detective Stanisław Antoni Wotowski, commissioned to deliver denunciations on Sadowska to public and social institutions, ended with his acquittal in the first instance.

She was buried at Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery (plot 29, row 1, grave 10) next to her mother (signed on her tombstone as Zofia Kowalkowska, 1 voto Sadowska).