It's Time to Legislate on X

Abortion has always been a polarising topic in Irish public life, but unless you've been living under a rock the past few weeks, it's been thrust back into the limelight after the tragic death of 31 year old Savita Halappanavar, a Dentist living in Galway. Savita presented herself in A&E at Galway University Hospital complaining of back pain but was found to be miscarrying after being 17 weeks pregnant. Spending 3 days in agony she requested an abortion multiple times but was denied as the foetus still had a heartbeat. After the foetus was finally induced, Savita developed septicaemia and was dead within a week.

20 Years ago the Supreme Court ruled that abortion is permissible when there is a substantial risk to the life of the mother after the Attorney General issued an injunction to prohibit a suicidal raped teenager travelling to the UK to access an abortion. This teenager known as "Girl X" is now older than Savita, and that Supreme Court ruling has never been legislated upon. No government has had the moral or ethical courage to legislate on that Supreme Court ruling, which frankly does not go far enough. Doctors are unable to perform their duty of care to the patient, as they could not act within the scope of the law as there was no immediate threat to Savita's life, however there was a real threat to her health. Savita's cervix was dilated during her 3 day agonising miscarriage leaving her prone to infection. Under Ireland's archaic laws on abortion, the right to life of the unborn undermined the right to life, and bodily integrity of the mother.

#savita Stop using savita to push an abortion agenda. UCHG staff says she died from a pre-exisiting condition. #showsomerespect
— Harlice Surel (@HarliceSurel) November 26, 2012

Even the anti-choice movement are jumping on this latest case to spread lies and mis-information. Savita's husband Praveen contacted Galway Pro-Choice seeking advice on going public with this case, and to campaign on legislation for X. The campaign to date has been respectful and dignified in comparison to the inflammatory hysteria peddled by pro-lifers we've become so accustomed to in recent years.

The swift slippery slope to abortion-on-demand in Britain should be forefront in the Irish debate on legislating for the disastrous X ruling
— Richard Waghorne (@richardwaghorne) November 22, 2012

Even the old chestnut of Abortion on Demand is getting thrown around, personally I see nothing wrong with that. We had a miscarrying woman in agony demanding an abortion which was denied. A pregnant cancer patient demanded an abortion which was denied and had to travel to the UK as her life was deemed not to be in immediate danger. Due to problems having her passport renewed, her cancer treatment was delayed. Do not be fooled, anti-choice rhetoric muddies the water and derails the argument, which is what they want.

I have my reservations with surgical abortion, but upon reflection I may feel the same way about any high-intervention treatment. In a lot of cases, a medical abortion might be the best option for many Irish women if legislators allowed for it, where a GP can prescribe medication to terminate a foetus up to 10 weeks. It would certainly prevent women from ordering dodgy pills online, having to travel to the UK, or worse still - back alley coat-hanger abortions, ensuring the safety of Irish women.

Irish women who require a termination have their human rights violated. They are denied, what can often be a necessary treatment in their own country; making them unequal before the law, violates right to life and bodily integrity. In 2012 we should no longer be arguing about this in Ireland, and making urgent demands on the government to finally update and legislate upon a 20 year old Supreme Court Ruling.