Thousands march for abortion
rights in Ireland ... Gene's advice: stand firm Ireland. No abortion
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DUBLIN (AP) -- About 10,000 people marched through Dublin
and observed a minute's silence Saturday in memory of the Indian dentist who
died of blood poisoning in an Irish hospital after being denied an abortion.
Marchers, many of them mothers and daughters walking side by
side, chanted "Never again!" and held pictures of Savita Halappanavar as they
paraded across the city to stage a nighttime candlelit vigil outside the office
of Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
The 31-year-old, who was 17 weeks pregnant with her first
child, died Oct. 28 one week after being hospitalized with severe pain at the
start of a miscarriage. Her death, made public by her husband this week, has
highlighted Ireland's long struggle to come to grips with abortion.
Doctors refused her requests to remove the fetus until its
heartbeat stopped four days after her hospitalization. Hours later she became
critically ill and her organs began to fail. She died three days later from
blood poisoning. Her widower and activists say she could have survived, and the
spread of infection been stopped, had the fetus been removed sooner.
The case illustrates a 20-year-old confusion in abortion law
in Ireland, where the practice is outlawed in the constitution. A 1992 Supreme
Court ruling decreed that abortions should be legal to save the life of the
woman, including if she makes credible threats to commit suicide if denied one.
But successive governments have refused to pass legislation spelling out the
rules governing that general principle, leaving the decision up to individual
doctors in an environment of secrecy.
Kenny's government says it needs to await the findings of
two investigations into Halappanavar's death before taking any action. It has
declined to say if it will pass legislation to make the 1992 judgment the
clear-cut, detailed law of the land. Many doctors say they fear being targeted
by lawsuits or protests - or even charged with murder - if they perform an
abortion to safeguard a pregnant woman's life.
Speakers from socialist parties, women's groups and abortion
rights activists addressed Saturday's crowd from atop a flat-bed truck. They
decried the fact that two decades had passed without any political decision to
define when hospitals could, and could not, perform abortions.
"Twenty years is far too long. Ignoring women's rights is
wrong!" the crowd chanted.
About 1,000 people staged a more prayer-oriented rally in
the western city of Galway, where the Halappavanars settled in 2008. Some placed
candles spelling SAVITA on the pavement in Galway's central Eyre Square.
Halappanavar's husband Praveen, took her body back to India
for a Hindu funeral service and cremation Nov. 3 but intends to return to his
job as a medical devices engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway.
The Irish government's inaction on abortion means that the
only law on the books dates to British rule in 1861, declaring that the
"procurement of a miscarriage" amounts to murder and could be punishable by up
to life in prison.
Irish voters in 1992 passed constitutional amendments
legalizing the right of Irish women to receive information on abortion services
in neighboring England, where the practice has been legal since 1967, and to
travel there without fear of facing prosecution. British health authorities
estimate that 4,000 to 5,000 Irish residents travel annually to England for
abortions.
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MISSION STATEMENT ... To celebrate where it's deserved! ... To take the Michael out of institutions and individuals where it's deserved! ... Recently I had occasion to prepare my gravestone epitaph: GENE... Educator, Novelist, Humanitarian and Humorist - TO KNOW HIM WAS TO LOVE HIM - Rest in Peace ....... But while I am still walking the earth do not hesitate to contact me at: bobbyslingshot8@gmail.com
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Thousands march for abortion rights in Ireland ... Gene's advice: stand firm Ireland. No abortion
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