Ireland to clarify abortion rules after woman's death
Savita Halappanavar is seen in an undated family photo in Galway, Ireland.
Ireland's government pledged today to clarify its abortion laws after an Indian woman who was refused a termination died from blood poisoning in an Irish hospital.
Thousands took to the streets to protest after news broke of the death of Savita Halappanavar of septicaemia following a miscarriage 17 weeks into her pregnancy.
Activists in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, which has some of the world's most restrictive laws on abortion, say the refusal by doctors to terminate the pregnancy earlier may have contributed to her death.
"I was deeply disturbed yesterday by what Savita's husband said. I don't think as a country we should allow a situation where women'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."
Irish law does not specify under what circumstances the threat to the life or health of the mother is high enough to justify a termination, leaving doctors to decide. Critics say this means doctors' personal beliefs can play a role.
Halappanavar was admitted to hospital in severe pain on Oct. 21 and asked for a termination after doctors told her the baby would not survive, according to her husband Praveen.
The foetus was surgically removed when its heartbeat stopped days later, but her family believes the delay contributed to the blood poisoning that killed Halappanavar on Oct. 28.
Praveen said he would wait for the results of an investigation before deciding whether to sue, but that Ireland's Roman Catholic tradition appeared to have been a factor in the decision to deny a termination.
"I am still in shock. It is hard to believe that religion can mean somebody's life," Praveen Halappanavar told Reuters. He said he planned to return to Ireland from India, where he travelled with his wife's body.
The Irish health authority (HSE) has launched an inquiry which the health minister said must "stand up to the scrutiny of the world." Irish media said Praveen would be interviewed.
The Indian couple were resident and working in Ireland, he as an engineer and she as a dentist.
POLITICAL STORM
Despite a dramatic waning of the influence of the Catholic Church, which dominated politics in Ireland until the 1980s, successive governments have been loath to legislate on an issue they fear could alienate conservative voters.
Fine Gael, the senior partner in Ireland's ruling coalition, told supporters before a recent election that it would not introduce new laws allowing abortion during its five-year term, despite pressure from its junior partner Labour to act.
The government said it had received long-delayed recommendations from an expert panel on introducing new rules on abortion, and would report before the end of the month.
Four out of five Irish voters support a change in the law to permit abortion in cases where a mother's life is at risk, according to a recent opinion poll.
But a vocal anti-abortion minority has dominated the debate on abortion in Ireland in the past, with campaigners arguing that the adoption of legislation or guidelines for medical terminations would bring in abortion through the back door.
In 1992, when challenged in the "X-case" involving a 14-year-old rape victim, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was permitted when the woman's life was at risk, including from suicide. A European Court of Human Rights in 2010 ruled that Ireland must clarify what this means in practice.
"This is exactly what the (European) court was complaining about ... The court has not said Ireland must or must not have abortion, they said they have to clarify circumstances," said Ronan McCrea, a barrister and lecturer in law at University College London.
"The vagueness ... gives excessive scope to doctors to follow their own personal views or it means even if they want to give the treatment, they'll fall foul of the law," he said.
Halappanavar's death has dominated debate in Ireland's parliament since news of it broke on Wednesday. Her photograph was spread across front pages of all Ireland's major newspapers on Thursday, while editorials demanded action from politicians.
The fact that she is a foreign national has heightened the government's embarrassment. The story was on the front of several large Indian newspapers and family members were featured on national television.
The Indian government said on Thursday it deeply regretted Halappanavar's death. "The death of an Indian national in such circumstances is a matter of concern," a spokesman said.
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Tanja Cilia
Nov 17th 2012, 23:51
Something is not quite squaring up in this story - the Catholic Faith includes the Double Effect Doctrine, The Hospital must have been aware of it; and the journalists who spouted off about "cruel bishops and insensitive politicians" (not in this newspaper) did not bother to find out about it. Neither have, apparently, people who have an agenda and are commenting here and elsewhere.
A Padovani
Nov 16th 2012, 17:43
I believe it would be wise to await the result of medical reports before jumping to any conclusions. As a doctor, I am very sceptical that the cause of death is directly related to whether an abortion was performed or not. As R Buttigieg correctly pointed out below, a live foetus per se, while a mother is miscarrying, is not a cause for septicaemia.
S.M. Cuschieri
Nov 17th 2012, 13:18
I totally agree. I cant understand why a miscarriage is linked to septicaemia in this case. I dont know if its wise of me to comment but on reading the article, I actually thought that the doctors acted in the correct ethical way. As soon as the foetus died, it was removed. So yes. I agree that maybe its wiser to await the lab reports. I actually think there is an alternative reason for death.
r buttigieg
Nov 16th 2012, 11:55
Can anyone explain please how a living foetus (the article states that the foetus was terminated after the heart beats had stopped) can procure a septicaemia (blood poisoning). It it was left there after it died it would. If the article is correct it seems a case of the doctors not detecting a dead foetus, hence inducing a septicaemia.
jane camillleri haber
Nov 16th 2012, 18:20
a living foetus cannot cause blood poisoning. the foetus was removed after it died. the blood poisoning was incidental and had nothing to do with the foetus but those who do not value the life of the foetus are using this incidence to fight for the right to kill the foetus in order to accommodate others . the mother had been complaining of a back ache and asking for her foetus to be removed. why?
Ramon Casha
Nov 16th 2012, 10:29
As Peter Murray correctly pointed out, even in Malta, the law does not make any allowances, even if the woman is certain to die. Doctors operate in a legal limbo and could be exposing themselves to criminal proceedings by trying to save the woman's life in a case like this.
This case in Ireland has opened our eyes - let's not wait until it happens here before the law is fixed.
Mr Ernest Vella
Nov 16th 2012, 07:20
Who wants to kill a baby is condemned to die too.
David Caruana
Nov 16th 2012, 08:19
If it was really a baby and if it happened in a state were capital punishment is permitted, then you might be right.
But it was a fetus, NOT a baby, and luckily Ireland does not allow capital punishment.
It seems you're happy that the mother died. I hope you don't call yourself a Christian.
Mr F J Brincat
Nov 16th 2012, 08:59
We are all going to die at some point in time...hasn't anyone told you that yet?
We go through life making decisions some good, some bad. Sometimes religion, law, morals and logic just don't go hand in hand. Shame that the young lady died - maybe in time she could have had another child and we would all be happy. As it is the world has lost both.
Anthony Galea
Nov 16th 2012, 11:00
I hope you don't call yourself a Liberal, David, if you don't give a hoot of respect for the individual's right to live.
The fetus isn't a baby? You just spat in the faces all those excited parents who carry out ultrasounds and monitor the movement of the dead clump of cells inside the womb. Ever felt a baby kick inside the wife's tummy?
Hell, do you even know what you're talking about?
Charles Grixti
Nov 16th 2012, 15:06
@Ernest Vella
What twisted logic. A miscarriage means that nature wants to kill the potential baby. The woman died because the hospital refused to save her life, preferring instead to let the woman die rather than go against an all male misogynistic Church. The killing of women apparently is A-Alright by the old men in Rome.
Francis Grech
Nov 18th 2012, 01:47
What a wise comment killed by who God we are all going to die some time or another don't bring religion in to this unfortunate episode.
j Vella
Nov 16th 2012, 06:03
As I was reading I noticed that the foetus was removed after the heartbeat stopped, so they tried to save the foetus as much as they could...they tried to save the mother & baby. This in not a case of only Religion but also a case of ethical human rights, of PRO-LIFE even for the baby.
S. Vella
Nov 16th 2012, 07:42
Neither the foetus nor the mother were saved. What is pro-life about that?
David Caruana
Nov 16th 2012, 08:12
And the result was?
Mary Borg
Nov 16th 2012, 05:00
I'm amazed that after what happened to his wife he intends to return to Ireland after taking his wife's body back to India. Obviously Ireland must be better than India to live. One knows that they have to abide by the law and regulations of the country one is living in, whether they be good or bad by one's standards.
I Bugeja
Nov 16th 2012, 09:00
So refusing to treat a patient is a standard, or the lack of it?
Peter Murray
Nov 16th 2012, 10:00
its not remotely about the father or differing countries living satndards is it>So why deflect attention awy from the real issue?
Charles Grixti
Nov 16th 2012, 04:49
I guess her own heartbeat counted for nothing.
Kevin Cassar
Nov 16th 2012, 01:43
And to think that us secularist liberals with no "morals" would have been so evil that we would have enabled the woman to live. Shame on us.
David Caruana
Nov 16th 2012, 08:38
Ehhhh!
What kind of pig would allow a fully grown woman to live (and be the life-giver of other offsprings in the future) without trying to save a bunch of insensate cells?
The politics of hocus-pocus KILLS PEOPLE.
Alex Ellul
Nov 16th 2012, 01:21
I just wonder why the Indian couple did not attend an Indian hospital manned by Indian doctors. Having said that, this is a very sad tragedy indeed which in no way must it be turned into some form of witch hunt against the Irish doctors. I am sure that they carried their duties well and took the right decisions and followed protocols as normally done in western countires' hospitals.
Liz WallikerG
Nov 16th 2012, 07:47
Unbelievable first sentence........ 2 obviously intelligent qualified people making their lives in another country, I'll bet the Irish health service welcomed her skills with open arms but spectacularly let her down
Roberta Debono
Nov 16th 2012, 00:59
I feel for the poor woman and her family, it just goes to show that religion and silly beliefs are the root of all wars and death, whether catholic, moslim, hindu, people die in vain for religion, one never hears of any death people coming back and telling us that it is a good thing, specially the moslim suicide bombers going to paradise what paradise, once blown up to pieces thats it--finito. END
Ivan Scicluna
Nov 16th 2012, 00:20
Throughout the ages, religion has killed more people than it has saved!
jane camillleri haber
Nov 16th 2012, 18:38
I believe the child had nothing to do with the woman's death whatever everyone is trying to speculate. on the contrary I have a hunch there was an attempt on the child's life which was not immediately successful and which prompted the woman to ask for help to continue the procedure. this backstreet attempt I believe caused the blood poisoning and the backache and eventually both deaths
Anthony Galea
Nov 16th 2012, 20:52
Hmm, it might come as a great shock to you, Ivan, but pro-life atheists exist too, you know.
Yeah, really!
Ding, dong, ding dong...
L Borissova
Nov 16th 2012, 00:19
Somehow I can't help noticing the "silence" for this news item comment-wise. Where are all the staunch pro-life radicals/Catholics now because it's in extremely sad cases such as this one that the fanatic pro-life lobby is exposed for its total hypocrisy. What abut this lost life now? Did it not count because it happens to be the mother's? Pro-life kills just the same.
Der Cullinane
Nov 16th 2012, 11:16
This is a racist and frivolous comment on a human tragedy.
Pathetic attempt at a very cheap and insensitive "joke"
Shame on you.
Charles Grixti
Nov 16th 2012, 15:17
@der Cullinane
How is this racist? Are the "Pro-(feotal) life and Pro-Maternal death" lobby now considered a race and fall under hate speech laws and cannot be criticised?
Chris Mifsud
Nov 15th 2012, 23:12
This is ridiculous. At the very least the law should allow abortions in cases where the mother's life is in danger, cases of rape and cases where the baby is going to be born seriously deformed etc..
anthony sultana
Nov 15th 2012, 23:05
Women should decide about abortion not men, women knows how they feel about themselves. Men should learn to mind their own business.A woman that she is not happy with her pregnancy she should make an abortion within the first three months of her pregnancy.
Mr Peter Korsten
Nov 15th 2012, 22:21
Without making a comment about the case or about abortion, it's pretty clear that putting the "right to life" in the constitution will lead to requests for an abortion, and these requests being honoured.
But those in Malta, who want to legislate beyond the grave and change the Maltese constitution, haven't figured this out yet: that they'll get exactly the opposite: legal abortions.
Joseph Aquilina
Nov 15th 2012, 22:20
"Praveen said he would wait for the results of an investigation before deciding whether to sue"
So there has been no investigation and yet the pro-abortionists have already started useing this case in order to push further their agenda. Questions such as "would this woman still be alive if the unborn child was aborted earlier?" have still not been answered.
Peter Murray
Nov 15th 2012, 21:05
She would have died here also as it is Malta who alone who has the world's most restrictive laws on abortion -not Ireland.For at least that country, in and this case, they have laws to protect womens health which were not applied -as apparently a heartbeat could be detected from the foetus,So now they have contributed to two (2) deaths by not first and foremost protecting the living.
J Cassar
Nov 16th 2012, 10:02
Mr Murray, in Malta they would have kept you in hospital if your foetus was in danger of losing its life. I know because it happened to me. My foetus died as they expected it would but i was taken very good care of. I also had follow up appointments etc and seen to till everything was 100% A-OK. So please, do get your facts straight before you post such remarks
.
Luke Lanzon
Nov 15th 2012, 20:52
"I am still in shock. It is hard to believe that religion can mean somebody's life"
I'm shocked that you're shocked about that!!!
Chris Gatt
Nov 15th 2012, 23:25
So Mr Lanzon is happy to see this woman die? Incidentally , it was not her religion, but hey, she'll go to heaven
Luke Lanzon
Nov 16th 2012, 13:23
@mr gatt
I'm far from happy I'm just not surprised that religion has caused another death.
Please choose the reason of your report below: