The recent death of a woman reportedly denied an abortion has sparked outrage. In Dublin, thousands of marchers demanded liberalization of Ireland's tough – and, some say, unclear – anti-abortion laws.
Thousands gathered on the streets of Irish capital Dublin today to demand liberalization of Ireland's stringent anti-abortion laws.
The
street protest, the second the city has seen in three days, was called
in response to the Oct. 28 death in a Galway hospital of Savita Halappanavar, who was pregnant and reported to the hospital complaining of severe pain. She was reportedly refused an abortion, and died after complications during a miscarriage. Her widower, Praveen, says they was told this was because Ireland was "a Catholic country."
The
death has sparked outrage across Ireland — and the world. One headline
in an Indian newspaper's online edition accused Ireland of murdering Ms.
Halappanavar.
March
organizers claim a turnout of 20,000, but Irish police gave a figure of
6,000. Either way, the march was unusually large by Irish standards,
wending its war from the Garden of Remembrance, a national independence
memorial, to Ireland's parliament, DáIl Éireann, just over a mile away.
"The
mood was somber and angry and determined," says Wendy Lyon, a feminist
activist and trainee attorney who attended the demonstration. "The sense
was there has to be a turning point. That things can't be allowed to go
on without change. Enough is enough, basically."
Ms. Lyon says Halappanavar's
death has resulted in a sea-change in Irish opinion, politicizing the
previously apolitical: "I think the people really have shifted on it.
I've spoken to people who were hesitant before but said something had to
be done."
Two inquiries are ongoing into Halappanavar's death, one by the hospital and one by Ireland's Health Service Executive, the arm's-length body that administers Ireland's health system.
Coming
as it did as the government ponders the recommendations of an "expert
group" on abortion, Halappanavar's death has reignited an already
simmering war of words about the morality – and legality — of abortion.
Ireland
outlaws abortion under an 1861 statute, but a 1992 Supreme Court
judgment demanded the country legislate to allow for abortions when a
woman's life is threatened by pregnancy. Successive governments have not
brought any legislation forward, but a 2010 European Court of Human Rights judgment demanded Ireland clarify the status of abortion in Irish law.
Currently,
terminations are permitted only if the intention is to save the life of
the pregnant woman rather than end the pregnancy. Doctors have
complained there is a lack of clarity over when they can or cannot
perform terminations, either by induced labor or by dilation and
evacuation, a method used to deal with miscarriages but also a form of
surgical abortion.
Speaking on Friday, Prime Minister Enda Kenny
rejected the idea there was a connection between Halappanavar's death
and the country's stance on abortion, calling it a "tragic coincidence."
Mr. Kenny is on the record as an opponent of abortion, and his conservative Fine Gael
party is virtually uniformly anti-abortion, but his coalition partners
in the Labor party are predominantly in favor of at least limited access
to abortion.
Smaller events
were held across Ireland today, including in Galway, where 60 members of
the Indian community gathered outside Galway University Hospital.
Candlelight vigils were also held in other towns and cities, including
an assembly of 1,000 people in Galway.
Post a Comment