I shudder think that I'll ever be in a situation where I was about to become a father and have the horror of losing a child via miscarriage but that was the case for one man who not only lost his child but also the woman he loved. Ireland this week has been rocked by the case of Savita Halappanavar who was denied an abortion even after being told the foetus would not survive. Sunday October 21st she entered a hospital in Galway with back pains only to be told she was miscarrying. She and her husband had requested an abortion but doctors couldn't carry this through as it abortion is illegal in Ireland. Over the next three days doctors refused their requests for a termination of her foetus to combat her own surging pain and fading health.
"Savita was really in agony. She was very upset, but she accepted she was losing the baby," her husband told The Irish Times in a telephone interview from Belgaum, southwest India. "When the consultant came on the ward rounds on Monday morning, Savita asked: 'If they could not save the baby, could they induce to end the pregnancy?' The consultant said: 'As long as there is a foetal heartbeat, we can't do anything.'"
"Again on Tuesday morning ... the consultant said it was the law, that this is a Catholic country. Savita said: "I am neither Irish nor Catholic," but they said there was nothing they could do," Praveen Halappanavar was quoted as saying.
He said his wife vomited repeatedly and collapsed in a restroom that night, but doctors wouldn't terminate the foetus because its heart was still beating.
The foetus died the following day and its remains were surgically removed. Within hours, Praveen Halappanavar said, his wife was placed under sedation in intensive care with systemic blood poisoning and he was never able to speak with her again. By Saturday, her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working and she was pronounced dead early Sunday, Oct. 28.
31 year old Savita Halappanavar .
2,000 people protested outside Government buildings in Dublin and Cork.
Of course this is an exceptional circumstance but one person had said to me "women have no domain over their own bodies" completely true and also I must feel for the doctors who were in the care of Savita, legislation is very unclear over termination of pregnancies in Ireland and neither patient nor doctor really have any chance to do what's best in these situations. This story really affected me as a very close friend had the very same problem this summer but not in Ireland, here, in France and I dread to think of losing my dear friend and mother of two young children because legally she can't make a choice.
Mothers have the best interest for their infants and for themselves and should really be allowed to choose what to do in such cases. Savita knew what was best for her all along yet she was powerless. My message to the Dail (Irish Governement) is do not let this catastophe be in vain change and reform law for the sake of all mothers, women, girls and husband and lets not lose one more soul.
"Savita was really in agony. She was very upset, but she accepted she was losing the baby," her husband told The Irish Times in a telephone interview from Belgaum, southwest India. "When the consultant came on the ward rounds on Monday morning, Savita asked: 'If they could not save the baby, could they induce to end the pregnancy?' The consultant said: 'As long as there is a foetal heartbeat, we can't do anything.'"
"Again on Tuesday morning ... the consultant said it was the law, that this is a Catholic country. Savita said: "I am neither Irish nor Catholic," but they said there was nothing they could do," Praveen Halappanavar was quoted as saying.
He said his wife vomited repeatedly and collapsed in a restroom that night, but doctors wouldn't terminate the foetus because its heart was still beating.
The foetus died the following day and its remains were surgically removed. Within hours, Praveen Halappanavar said, his wife was placed under sedation in intensive care with systemic blood poisoning and he was never able to speak with her again. By Saturday, her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working and she was pronounced dead early Sunday, Oct. 28.
31 year old Savita Halappanavar .
2,000 people protested outside Government buildings in Dublin and Cork.Of course this is an exceptional circumstance but one person had said to me "women have no domain over their own bodies" completely true and also I must feel for the doctors who were in the care of Savita, legislation is very unclear over termination of pregnancies in Ireland and neither patient nor doctor really have any chance to do what's best in these situations. This story really affected me as a very close friend had the very same problem this summer but not in Ireland, here, in France and I dread to think of losing my dear friend and mother of two young children because legally she can't make a choice.
Mothers have the best interest for their infants and for themselves and should really be allowed to choose what to do in such cases. Savita knew what was best for her all along yet she was powerless. My message to the Dail (Irish Governement) is do not let this catastophe be in vain change and reform law for the sake of all mothers, women, girls and husband and lets not lose one more soul.
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