Calls for abortion law reform in Ireland have triggered widespread public debate with passionate voices on both sides - such as this All-Ireland Rally For Life in July 2011. Picture: William Murphy / flickr.com Source: Supplied
A WOMAN has died of blood poisoning from a miscarriage, after an Irish hospital denied her an abortion telling her "this is a Catholic country".
The tragedy comes as the country is in the throes of a passionate debate over potential abortion law reform.
The Irish Times reports that both the hospital and the health department have begun investigations into the death at University Hospital Galway last month.
Savita Halappanavar, 31, a dentist, went to the hospital with back pain on October 21.
Her husband Praveen Halappanavar said she was told she was miscarrying, and after one day of severe pain she asked for a medical termination.
A protester opposed to abortion holds a placard outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Thursday, 18, 2012. Picture: AP
Eventually the foetal heartbeat stopped and the foetus was removed. But Ms Halappanavar was by now seriously ill, and was taken to the high dependency unit and then the intensive care unit, where she died of septicaemia (blood poisoning triggered by infection) a week after she first arrived at the hospital.
The hospital extended its sympathy to family and friends but said it could not discuss the details of an individual case.
Mr Halappanavar said when the couple first arrived at the hospital they had been told the miscarriage "should be over in a few hours".
March for Choice in Dublin in September 2012. Picture: streetsofdublin.com / flickr.com
"Savita was really in agony," he said. "She was very upset but she accepted she was lsoing the baby. 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'."
The next day there was the same conversation, he said, despite Ms Halappanavar pointing out that she was neither Irish nor Catholic.
That evening she started shivering and vomiting and was started on antibiotics. But it was not until lunchtime the next day that the heartbeat stopped and the foetus was removed.
"When she came out (of that operation) she was talking okay but she was very sick," Mr Halappanavar said.
"That's the last time I spoke to her."
The case has aroused high emotions in Ireland, as calls grow for major reform of the country's old and confusing abortion laws.
The first abortion clinic on the island opened its doors in Belfast last month, attracting hundreds of angry protesters.
In the north an abortion is legal if there is long-term or permanent risk to the mother's physical or mental health. But in the south, laws prohibiting all abortions have never been repealed, and doctors fear criminal and professional sanctions despite a little-tested 1983 amendment to the constitution that seems to permit terminations if the mother's life is in danger.
Around 4000 women from the republic and 1000 from the north travel to Britain each year for abortions, and recent polls show a clear majority support for legal abortion.
However the vast majority of the country still identify as Catholic, and the church still has significant influence on political leaders.
The story comes as a new scientific study for the first time has looked at the consequences for women denied abortions.
The Turnaway Study from the University of California San Francisco looked a 956 women who sought abortions at 30 different clinics, of whom 182 were turned away.
It found that the women denied an abortion were three times more likely than women who receive an abortion to be below the poverty line two years later.
They were also much more likely to stay in a relationship with an abusive partner, with more than twice as many women denied an abortion reporting a recent incident of domestic violence.
However the study found no link between being denied an abortion and subsequent mental health disorders or drug use, and no long-term difference in chronic health problems.
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