Savita Halappanavar died after an Irish hospital refused to give her an abortion; following her death, thousands of protestors took to the streets.
On Wednesday, a woman named Savita Halappanavar died in an Irish hospital following a miscarriage.
She'd been admitted to University Hospital Galway, when she was 17 weeks pregnant, in severe pain, and was quickly found to be miscarrying. After three days, she died of septicemia, or blood poisoning, which might have been avoided if the fetus had been aborted immediately. Savita was denied the procedure, according to The Telegraph, because her doctors could still hear the fetus's heartbeat. "This is a Catholic country," she was reportedly told, although Savita was neither Catholic nor Irish (she was Indian and a Hindu). She was 31 years old.
Image by Julien Behal, PA / AP
Thousands of people attended a candelight vigil in her honor outside the Irish parliament.
The vigil served as a protest against Ireland's vague abortion laws; although the constitution bans abortions outright, in 1992 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing it when the woman's life is in danger. However, the law was never changed.
Image by Peter Muhly / AFP / Getty Images
Image by Peter Muhly / AFP / Getty Images
Image by Peter Muhly / AFP / Getty Images