Thousands protested in Ireland and parents cried out in India after a miscarrying woman died having been refused an abortion. The laws have to change, Irish physicians say.
DUBLIN/NEW DELHI — Pressure is mounting in Ireland for the government to draft a law spelling out when life-saving abortions can be performed following the death in the hospital of a pregnant woman who was denied an abortion.
Thousands have rallied in London, Dublin, Cork and Galway in memory of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who died a week after doctors said she was starting to miscarry her 17-week-old fetus.
Despite her pain, doctors refused her request for an abortion for three days because the fetus had a heartbeat. She died from blood poisoning three days after the fetus died.
Irish gynecologists said Thursday they want the government to close a 20-year-old hole in abortion law that leaves them fearing prosecution if they abort a living fetus to protect a woman's life.
Earlier, in New Delhi, Halappanavar's parents slammed Ireland's abortion laws .
"In an attempt to save a 4-month-old fetus they killed my 30-year-old daughter. How is that fair? You tell me," A. Mahadevi, Halappanavar's mother, told several Indian television stations. Her daughter actually was 31 when she died.
"How many more cases will there be? The rules should be changed as per the requirement of Hindus. We are Hindus, not Christians," she said.
Halappanavar's father, Andanappa Yalagi, said the combination of medical negligence and Irish abortion laws led to his daughter's death.
The spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, said in a Twitter post that the Indian Embassy in Dublin was "following the matter."
Halappanavar's husband, Praveen, said doctors at University Hospital Galway in western Ireland determined that his wife was miscarrying within hours of her hospitalization for severe pain Oct. 21. He said over the next three days, doctors refused their requests for an abortion to combat her searing pain and fading health.
It was only after the fetus died that its remains were surgically removed. Within hours, Savita was placed under sedation in intensive care with blood poisoning, her husband said. By Oct. 27, her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working, and she was pronounced dead the next day.
Three separate investigations are looking into the cause of Halappanavar's death.
Ireland's constitution officially bans abortion, but a 1992 Supreme Court ruling said the procedure should be legalized for situations when the woman's life is at risk from continuing the pregnancy. Five governments since have refused to pass a law resolving the confusion, leaving Irish hospitals reluctant to terminate pregnancies except in the most obviously life-threatening circumstances.
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I HAVE SAID AND WRITTEN THAT ABORTION ON DEMAND IS WRONG AND A SIN. AND INDEED THAT IS SO.
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE LIFE OF A WOMAN, THE LIFE OF THE WOMAN DOES COME FIRST. IN THE MATTER OF THE ABOVE THE WOMAN'S LIFE SHOULD HAVE COME FIRST, THERE IS NO QUESTION, NO DEBATE ON THAT. UNDER THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW OF GOD, WHEN IT COMES TO THE LIFE OF THE WOMAN OR THE BABY, THE WOMAN'S LIFE COMES FIRST.
Keith Hunt
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