diff --git a/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py b/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py
index 563f6a3f4..202b2c373 100644
--- a/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py
+++ b/src/semantic_release/changelog/context.py
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ def autofit_text_width(text: str, maxwidth: int = 100, indent_size: int = 0) ->
             )
         )
 
+        # Guard against empty paragraphs (e.g. from whitespace-only lines in commit bodies),
+        # which would cause words[0] to raise an IndexError.
+        if not words:
+            continue
+
         # Initialize the line for each paragraph
         line = words[0]
         next_line = ""