How Doctor Savita Halappanavar's Death Led To Ireland’s Abortion Rights Campaign

To commemorate the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar, an Indian-origin dentist who passed away ten years ago after being denied an abortion in Ireland, marches and vigils calling for significant abortion law reform have been planned for Dublin on Saturday.

Halappanavar's passing spurred nationwide demonstrations against the country's restrictive abortion laws and the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which forbade abortions in Ireland.

The Eighth Amendment was repealed as a result of Savita Halappanavar's passing. There are pleas for the new law to be named Savita's Law.

Who Was Savita Halappanavar?

31-year-old Savita Halappanavar was a dentist who passed away in October 2012. She hailed from Karnataka, India, and was residing and working in County Galway, Ireland with her husband Praveen.

She complained of lower back pain that had persisted for almost 12 hours when she checked into a hospital in Ireland.

She had been expecting her first child and was admitted after the evaluation revealed that her pregnancy would unavoidably end in failure due to problems.

However, a consultant informed them that this was not possible under Irish law because abortion is prohibited.

The expert claimed that since this is a Catholic nation, it is required by law. I am neither Irish nor Catholic, Halappanavar protested, but they stated there was nothing they could do.

Suggested Reading: The Right To Abortion Should Be A Woman’s Decision

After the embryonic heartbeat stopped a short while later, She was transported into an operating room where the contents of her womb were extracted.

Her condition significantly deteriorated. She was gravely unwell and had been given a sepsis diagnosis. She was admitted to the ICU, and two days later it was discovered that her heart, kidneys, and liver were not functioning properly.

The same night, she passed away. It was determined that sepsis and an E. coli infection led to multi-organ failure, eventually resulting in her death.

She died from full-blown septic shock from E. coli bacteremia; ascending genital tract sepsis; miscarriage at 17 weeks gestation accompanied with chorioamnionitis.