By Victoria Hogan
I lived in Dublin, Ireland from September to December 2012, and while the experience that I had there was amazing, an important event happened. A casualty revealed Ireland’s current significant public health issue: women’s reproductive rights. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “the decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. When the government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choice”. Fortunately, the tragic loss of one woman’s life renewed the fight to gain autonomy for all women in Ireland.
An Indian woman, Savita Halappanavar, living in Ireland, went to the Galway University Hospital, in Galway, Ireland, in November 2012. She was having a miscarriage and was in extreme pain. However, the doctors said that they could not perform an abortion to relieve her suffering because there was still a fetal heartbeat. Savita Halappanavar died after three days in the hospital from septicemia, a blood infection, which could have been avoided if the doctors had been allowed to provide her with the abortion she so desperately needed.
Why did the doctors refuse to perform the abortion Savita needed? Because Ireland is a Catholic country, so “abortion is only legal if the mother’s life is at risk, which is different from her health being at risk”.[i] I learned from my time living in Ireland, that while there are extreme cases in which abortion is allowed, it would be extremely difficult to find a doctor who has the skills and is willing to perform the abortion.
The team of doctors treating Savita were reported as saying, “Sorry, can’t help you. It’s a Catholic country. Can’t help you. It’s a Catholic team”. In response, Savita’s husband raised a good point when he asked the question, “she is Hindu, so why impose the law of the land on her”.[ii] This question raises another key aspect for this public health debate.
Since the booming of the Celtic Tiger in Ireland, starting in the 1990s, there has been a steady increase in the number of people seeking asylum in Ireland. The majority of these people come from countries, which are predominately non-Catholic. Savita falls into this category. I had personal experiences with many of these refugees while working in a clinic in Dublin. The patients coming into the clinic were not necessarily seeking abortions, but their presence in the clinic indicated that there is a need for the government to reconsider certain health laws to include this growing minority population, planning to stay in Ireland.
I witnessed many protests in the aftermath of this tragic story. There is a growing population in support of pro-choice in Ireland. The Irish government needs to realize that while Ireland may still be a Catholic country, it is no longer a homogeneous population. These minority populations, such as the Indian Hindu population in Savita’s case, are gaining in numbers and their culture and beliefs must be respected. As I was preparing to leave Ireland, it was announced that the first abortion clinic would be built in Northern Ireland, a territory of the United Kingdom, where abortion is already legal. While this clinic will not be in the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is still illegal, it does show promise for the future because this will be the first abortion clinic on the island.
We are very fortunate in the United States that women’s reproductive rights are better established and respected than in Ireland. However, in our not so distant past, women were fighting for these rights. Women fighting in Ireland for their own reproductive rights need our support as they continue their journey.
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