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Ireland Promises To Clarify Abortion Laws In The Wake Of A Woman’s Death

Danielle Tarasiuk |
November 15, 2012 | 12:00 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

 

pmecologic / Creative Commons
pmecologic / Creative Commons
Ireland’s government promised to clarify its ambiguous abortion laws on Thursday after a woman died because she was denied an abortion during a miscarriage. 

Savita Halappanavar, 31, an Indian Hindu was 17 weeks pregnant when she miscarried and then subsequently died from blood poisoning. An abortion, as Halappanavar requested, would have saved her life. 

Ireland, a deeply Catholic country, has some of the most restrictive yet vague abortion laws in Europe. Activists say that due to the legal ambiguity about when during a pregnancy an abortion is allowed led to Halappanavar’s death. 

“I don’t think as a country we should allow a situation where a woman’s rights are put at risk in this way,” Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told parliament on Thursday. “There is no question of equivocation. We need to bring legal clarity to this issue and that is what we are going to do.” 

Also the fact that Halappanavar was an Indian national and not Irish, make this case particularly humiliating for the Irish government. 

On Sunday, Oct. 21 Halappanavar was hospitalized for acute pain at University Hospital Galway in western Ireland, according to Halappanavar’s husband, Praveen. Within hours doctors identified that Halappanavar was miscarrying. 

Praveen also said that doctors refused to perform an abortion to ease his wife’s extreme pain and help her increasingly poor health. 

Praveen recounted that his wife said, “I am neither Irish or Catholic but they said there was nothing they could do.” 

A week after she was admitted to the hospital Halappanavar miscarried. Following the miscarriage the remains of the fetus were surgically removed. 

After the surgery Praveen said that Halappanavar was placed in intensive care for blood poisoning and died the next day on Sunday, Oct. 28. 

Halappanavar’s death came into the public eye on Tuesday when the Indian Community in Galway canceled their yearly Diwali festival in honor of her. She had been one of the main organizers for the festival.  

Halappanavar’s remains were flown to India for a Hindu ceremony on Nov. 3

Irish law does not state under what condition the threat to the mother’s life or health is severe enough where an abortion would be justified, thus leaving it up to the doctor’s discretion.

Many doctors when faced with the decision choose not to perform the abortion in fear that their medical license will be annulled, so often times they refer the women to hospitals in England.   

There are estimated to be around 4,000 women a year in Ireland who want an abortion and are forced to travel to England, where the procedure has been legal since 1976

But for women with failing health this option often times proves to be too difficult to do. 

 

Email Danielle Tarasiuk here or follow her on Twitter



 

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