A MARCH IS taking place in Dublin this afternoon to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Savita Halappanavar.
Her death reignited calls to repeal the eighth amendment to Ireland’s constitution, which largely prevented legal access to abortion.
Director of the National Women’s Council Orla O’Connor said today that Savita’s death was a “turning point in Ireland as the public clearly saw the harms and risk to women’s lives because of the eighth amendment”.
Savita, a dentist, died in 2012 in University Hospital Galway while she was 17 weeks pregnant – the first direct maternal death in the hospital in 16 years.
Doctors on the ward believed that she was in the middle of a miscarriage or about to miscarry but when Savita and her husband Praveen asked about using medication to induce the miscarriage, as Savita was experiencing pain and bleeding and was at risk of infection and sepsis, they were advised that doctors’ hands were “tied” under Irish law as long as there was a foetal heartbeat.
Savita died after a week in hospital, with her cause of death recorded as severe sepsis, E.coli in the bloodstream and a miscarriage at 17 weeks.
Crowds marking Savita’s death gathered at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin from 1pm today to march across the city before speeches at City Hall on Dame Street.
The march route also included the Repeal mural at the Project Arts Centre.
Former TD Ruth Coppinger of the Rosa Socialist Feminist Movement said that Ireland “must never forget Savita, whose denial of a life-saving abortion lit the spark for the repeal movement”.
“A campaign for a permanent memorial to Savita will be launched from the march as a fitting reminder that never again should religious views hold sway over human rights,” Coppinger said.
“Winning repeal put the brakes on a long and grim record of state misogyny but we see this week insulting redress for mother and baby homes survivors and no progress whatsoever since repeal in separating church and state,” she said.
“Those who fought for repeal are marching today, but so too are young people who don’t remember Savita, but who see the rights of women and LGBT+ people dismantled in the US and see schoolgirls bravely taking on religious dictatorship in Iran.
“The rights of women and LGBT+ people are first in the firing line of right-wing leaders coming to power worldwide.”
Director of the National Women’s Council Orla O’Connor said that Ireland’s current legislation “goes against the recommendations of the World Health Organisation and situates abortion outside the normal range of healthcare which women need”.
“Urgent reform is needed to decriminalise abortion, remove the 3 day wait period and the 12 week limit to enable abortion on request up to viability,” O’Connor said.
Activist Ailbhe Smyth said she was marching to honour Savita’s memory and that her “needless, deeply sad death” was “the spark that ignited a massive movement for change leading to a momentous leap forward for reproductive rights and for equality in Ireland”.
“We are proud of what we achieved but there is a great deal more work to be done to ensure that everyone who needs abortion can do so,” Smyth said.
“Research and experience show that significant reform and expansion of the current abortion law is required, along with countrywide provision of comprehensive primary care and hospital services. Without the provision of widely accessible services, an abortion law is not worth the paper it’s drafted on.”
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