Activists in Ireland are calling for the country’s new pro-choice law to be named after Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian dentist whose death in 2012 galvanised the ‘Yes’ campaign and who became the face of the movement ahead of Friday’s historic referendum.
As a result of the nearly 70-30 decision, the 8th amendment of Ireland’s Constitution will be repealed and replaced with an “enabling provision for the regulation of termination of pregnancy”.
Leading Ireland-based campaigners said they will support a move to have the new law named after Savita, whose Karnataka-based father, Andanappa Yalagi, has called for it to be referred to as “Savita’s Law”. Yalagi told the Irish Times: “We have one last request, that the new law, that it is called ‘Savita’s Law’. It should be named for her.”
Together For Yes, an umbrella group representing pro-repeal organisations, said at a news conference in Dublin that it would support naming the new law after Savita.
The government did not immediately comment on this demand.
The group also called on the government to start immediately working on legislation.
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Orla O’Connor, chair of the campaign, said: “The people have spoken. We were here to repeal the 8th (amendment) and we did.”
Moving tributes were paid at a memorial to Halappanavar in Dublin after the referendum resulted in a resounding “Yes” vote, reflecting major changes in the Catholic country that until recently resisted reforms such as same-sex marriage.
Eulogies to Savita included messages such as: “Sorry we were too late. But we are here now, we didn’t forget you”, and “I’m so deeply sorry you had to suffer. You have changed our history and our destiny.”
Halappanavar, who moved to Ireland with her husband Praveen, died of sepsis in Galway in 2012 after being denied an abortion during a protracted miscarriage. Irish law imposed a near-total ban on abortion, forcing thousands to fly to Britain and other countries to terminate pregnancies, because the eighth amendment to Ireland’s Constitution, introduced in 1983, “acknowledges the right to life of the unborn”.
Prime Minster Leo Varadkar, whose election in June 2017 was also hailed as a sign of major social change in Ireland, called the Yes vote a “quiet revolution”.Ireland on voted overwhelmingly to overturn the abortion ban by 66.4 per cent to 33.6 per cent, according to a media report.
A referendum held resulted in a landslide win for the repeal side. Currently, abortion is only allowed when a woman’s life is at risk, but not in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality.
The Eighth Amendment, which grants an equal right to life to the mother and unborn will be replaced.
One of the key cases influencing the debate on abortion in Ireland was that of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died of sepsis in a hospital in Galway after being denied an abortion during a protracted miscarriage in 2012.
Her husband Praveen had told her inquest she requested a termination but was refused because the baby’s heart was still beating. A midwife manager at Galway University Hospital confirmed that she told Halappanavar that a termination could not be carried out because Ireland was a “Catholic country”. The inquest into her death returned a verdict of medical misadventure.
People celebrate the result of the referendum on liberalizing abortion law, in Dublin, Ireland, May 26, 2018. (REUTERS)
Her death had triggered a massive debate in the country over the issue of life-saving abortions and resulted in a new law that allows abortions under extreme circumstances. The Irish Parliament voted to legalise abortion in cases of medical emergencies as well as the risk of suicide in July, 2013.
With a win for the Yes vote, the existing article of the Constitution which was inserted in 1983 – and the 1992 additions – will be replaced with this text: “Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy”, the report said.
The Catholic church had strongly opposed repealing the amendment and Irish bishops warned in a joint statement, “We believe that the deletion or amendment of this article can have no other effect than to expose unborn children to greater risk and that it would not bring about any benefit for the life or health of women in Ireland.
PTI
