The Death of Savita Halappanavar - An Indictment of Irish Society

The death of Savita Halappanavar brings into the fray urgent legislation to legislate for the X Case but not only that raises a number of issue at the centre of Irish society most notably religious extremism, lack of adequate governance from the ruling coalition, a failed health system and the oppression of women in Irish society. All four of these aspects are featured from this case and this blog post will explore all four aspects in some detail.









Savita Halappanavar died in October 2012 in Galway Roscommon Univerisity Hospital as a result of scepetcimia which she contracted. Three days earlier Savita had visited the hospital in pain and to seek the termination of the foetus which had been causing pain . Doctors listened to the heartbeat of the foetus and as it had a heartbeat it was deemed to be alive and therefore no medical procedure could be carried out. Three days later, after several examinations of the foetus it was found to have died and the resulting body was removed. During this it had been found that Mrs Halappanavar had a dilated cervix and was leaking animotic fluid . The Guardian takes up the story here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/14/savita-halappanavar-medically-unnecessary-death) and summarises what happened:









She died of septicaemia and E Coli. She died after three and a half days of excruciating pain. She died after repeatedly begging for an end to the pregnancy that was poisoning her. Her death would have been avoided if she had been given an abortion when she asked for it – when it was clear she was miscarrying, and that non-intervention would put her at risk.








Savita Halappanavar did not have to die in vain. The government and past successive governments since the X Case have failed to legislate adequately for such an occasion . The X Case was brought before the courts when a 14 year old girl, known only as X, was brought to court to prevent her going to England for an abortion due to a pregnancy from being raped by a neighbour. The Attorney General at the time,Harry Whelehan successfully got an injunction at the high court but this was turned over on appeal at the Supreme Court by a majority of four to one. It was ruled that a woman was entitled to an abortion if there was risk to her life but not to her health. As X was suicidal, this criteria was deemed to be constituting a risk to her life so X was allowed to go to England for an abortion. Since this, the governments of successive years have failed to legislate for the case and as such may be in breach of European law.









Part of the reason that the government has not legislated for it is that there is a certain conservative element within the Irish government, most notably in Fine Gael whom are still rooted in old school conservative Ireland in their politics. Only recently 15 TD’s spoke out against any proposals by the government to liberalise any of the laws on abortion and sought assurances from the government that such legislation would never pass. There is no question over certain members attitudes to abortion within the party when you consider that people like Gay Mitchell have made remarks (which they later say they regretted) which compared abortions to the Holocaust. In statements that were again brought under the microscope before the recent presidential elections, Mitchell was reminded of remarks he had made in 1998 in which he said (speaking of concentration camps) “children [were] poisoned by educated physicians, infants killed by trained nurses” to which was added ““could easily apply to the millions of abortions which needlessly take place year after year”. This religious element is not only to be found in the government. Savida’s husband told the media that when his wife sought an abortion, he was told that they could not give one as Ireland was a Catholic country. Youth Defence even at the time of writing this article are quick enough to hop on the bandwagon, according to thejournal.ie (http://www.thejournal.ie/savita-youth-defence-abortion-674078-Nov2012/) (in what surely must be a fairly ironic)









Youth Defence said that journalists – whom they did not identify – had been “rushing to pre-empt those investigations when they are not in full possession of the facts”.


Its statement said: “According to the information that is available, it seems that a delay in administering antibiotics may have been the cause of the septicaemia which tragically led to her death.









In other words they are telling us that journalists are not in full possession of the facts and they must be by telling us that it seems the antibiotics not being administered may have been the cause? Do Youth Defence not think they should have the full facts also?









The health system itself, being badly managed due to lack of clear direction and grey areas over the law could have done a lot more to address the situation that Savida found herself in. Doctors in similar situations in Ireland may be worried about the possible legal implications regarding carrying out such an abortion in the country. With no legislation or guidance in place, doctors are more or less left in legal limbo as to what direction to take on the matter. A young woman lost her life as there was no clear instructions in what to do in such a situation, which brings me to my last point.









Savida was denied the opportunity to be in control of her own body. The state has no business telling a woman what she can or cannot do with her body up to a certain point when it is carrying a foetus. Savida has requested a termination of the foetus to alleviate her suffering but this was ignored and in retrospect, this was a breach of her rights as a woman to do what she wanted with her body. Considering the gender quota that is in place at the moment in government, it is mostly men that are making the decisions,scary thought that men are mostly making the decisions for a woman and how she should live her life .









It is quite clear that the government, the health services and other agents of society that are meant to protect a womans life failed. To what extent is not quite clear but what is clear is this, there is one grieving husband looking for answers.









Sources







http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/1114/1224326575203.html?via=mr


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_v._X


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0719/1224320380991.html


http://www.thejournal.ie/gay-mitchell-regrets-saying-abortion-was-like-the-holocaust-203063-Aug2011/


http://www.thejournal.ie/gay-mitchell-press-officer-surprised-by-abortion-article-206582-Aug2011/

http://www.thejournal.ie/savita-youth-defence-abortion-674078-Nov2012/