Is Savita's death being used to advance a pro-abortion agenda in Ireland?

Anti-religious prejudice at heart of efforts to highlight tragedy of dead woman

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A woman holds a picture of Savita Halappanava during a candle lit vigil outside Belfast City Hall, Northern Ireland

Photo by AP

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Had Savita died for want of an abortion, those conclusions might be justified. But to paraphrase a saying about the media - that bad news has travelled around the world before good news has got its boots on - half baked assumptions and misperceptions can travel around the world twice before the facts have even gotten out of the shower.

And the facts are that – as Health Minister James Reilly stated last week - there is “no evidence” that Ireland’s “Catholic ethos”, laws or medical practice killed Savita. Whether medical practice was followed is another story. Until a report is completed, we do not know. But as consultant gynaecologist Dr. John Monaghan confirmed in my studio on Wednesday 14th November last, neither Irish law nor Irish “Catholic ethos” lets the life of an unborn child stand in the way of any intervention needed to save a mother’s life and unborn children have been removed from their mothers to save the mother’s life in Irish hospitals.

Some days ago Dr. Hema Divakar, President of the Indian Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological societies of India told the Hindu Times: “Based on information in the media, in that situation of septicaemia, if the doctors had meddled with the live baby, Savita would have died two days earlier,” adding further that, “Delay or refusal to terminate the pregnancy does not in itself seem to be the cause of death”.

Read more news on Savita Halappanavar's case here

Instead of reporting this, the media has presented Ireland as a Frankenstein using emotive language in a way that risks stoking Irish-Indian enmity. But just as the gendercide of 50,000 baby girls in India each year is no reflection on India or Indians, what happened to Savita is no reflection on the catholic ethos of Ireland or the Irish.

But some people have seen their chance to establish – or re-inforce – a narrative and have taken it. Tweeted and blogged around the world in an instant, the perception of Ireland as “barbaric” “medieval” and “cruel” has entrenched itself in the minds of many.

The facts – it seems – do not matter. But the facts are getting more and more interesting: On Sunday the Sunday Independent – a paper to which I contribute – reported that pro-abortion campaigners had known of the case in advance. The suddenness and highly organised nature of the protests that followed the breaking news was remarkable. So was the “coincidence” that the story was broken on the same day a sensitive report on abortion was presented to government.

To paraphrase the words of William Butler Yeats, this is a case in which the most informed have lacked conviction, while the least informed and most ideologically driven seem to be full of passionate intensity. Having just passed a referendum to protect the rights of of children, it is too soon to conclude that they should be taken from unborn children.

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