On Sunday, October 28, 2012, Savita Halappanavar died of septicemia, which is bacteria in the blood that often occurs with severe infections.
She had symptoms of severe back pain a week before at University hospital in Galway, Ireland where she was found to be miscarrying; the only cure would be an abortion.
Halappanavar had all her life’s plans figured out, she was married, a qualified dentist, and she was expecting her first child.
Her husband’s name is Praveen who is an engineer working in Ireland. Halappanavar would still be here, if she was granted the right to have an abortion, but because there was still a fetal heartbeat, she was denied.
Irish governmental officials confirmed that, although she was in the throes of miscarrying, she was refused an abortion.
Halappanavar and her husband repeatedly asked for an abortion, and were denied. Some of you may ask, why? Well, Praveen says one doctor replied by saying, Ireland is a Catholic country – this is the law.
Savita was an Indian Hindu. So, because Ireland is a Catholic country, Savita Halappanavar, was refused an abortion, even though she is not a member of the Catholic faith, even though she was on her death bed, she was not given the choice of what to do with her own body.
In Ireland’s capital, Dublin, hundreds protested Ireland’s abortion laws and mourned Halappanavar’s death.
Ireland has extremely tight restrictions on abortion. That’s why every year, thousands of Irish women travel to neighboring Britain for terminations.
Think about it, why do these laws even exist, when the people who declare this religion, do not oblige to the laws it creates. It is quite senseless, I know, and yet.
The Irish government is exploring legal reforms. There’ll be no changes, though, until it sees the outcome of two official investigations into Halappanavar’s death.
