‘Never again!’ say Irish campaigners for abortion rights
2013Betty Ann McCafferty 2013-01Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 5 →
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“Never again!” was the chant heard on the streets of Dublin on Dec. 1, as 20,000 people came out to de nounce the Irish government’s hand in the death of Savita Halappanavar and demand their right to free and legal abortions.
Savita was a 31-year-old Indian woman working in Ireland, and she is one the most recent victims of the global war on women. Savita, 17 weeks pregnant, was hospitalized in Galway when she was found to be miscarrying. Despite this, nurses repeatedly re fused her requests for an abortion, on grounds that “it’s a Catholic country.” Seven days after being hos pitalized, on Oct. 28, Savita died tragically of septi cemia.
Why would a woman need to die from such a pre ventable disease in this day and age? The answer lies in a long history of anti-women legislation in Ireland. In 1983, a constitutional amendment ban ning abortion was passed by referendum. In 1992, a 14-year-old victim of rape was stopped by an Irish court from traveling to England for an abortion and became suicidal. On appeal, the Irish Supreme Court found that the young woman should be allowed to travel to England to seek an abortion because being suicidal was a threat to her life.
Despite this ruling, however, subsequent Irish gov ernments have failed to create the legislation that backs up this right to an abortion when it could save a mother’s life. The European Union Human Rights court has demanded that the Irish government cre ate this clear legislation after a separate, but similar case. It has been this legal ambiguity that surrounds medical abortion that medical personnel have used to explain away negligence in Savita’s case.
As important as this legislation is, what environ ment will it create for a woman seeking an abortion? Proof that she is suicidal? A decision by the pater nalistic health service that her life is in danger? This stipulation of the need for a threat to a mother’s life will create a further victimization of all women at the hands of the state.
Abortion rights in the United States are being whittled away in this same way. Stipulations that make abortion more acceptable to “pro-life” politi cians delegitimize a women’s right to make a choic Shawn Pogatchnik (Above) Pro-abortion rights protesters march in Dublin, Nov. 17. Some 20,000 marched on Dec. 1.
es about her own body. Since this tragedy, the Irish pro-choice movement has made itself heard on the streets, demanding not just better legislation, but free and legal abortions for all.
We need to show solidarity with our Irish broth ers and sisters, but also build a movement that will demand the same for women here. n