On Saturday, October 29, a public meeting is being planned in Galway in Ireland in memory of a Karnataka woman whose death inspired a social movement and brought in changes to the country's abortion law.
It was ten years ago on October 28, 2012, that Savita Halappanavar, a native of Bagalkot in Karnataka, died of sepsis after she was refused an abortion the University Hospital in Galway in Ireland. Her death sparked a movement for abortion rights and led to the conceding of a referendum to liberalise abortion laws in Ireland in 2018.
On the tenth anniversary of her death, the feminist movement ROSA, is organising a memorial event at 7pm at Eyre Square in Galway city in memory of Savitha. Kitty Holland, the Irish Times journalist who broke the story of the circumstances that led to Savita's death, wrote that the march is supported by several organisations including the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). The organisations plan to seek further reforms in Ireland's abortion laws.
Who is Savita Halappanavar?
Savita was born in Bagalkote in Karnataka. She completed a course in the KLE VK Institute of Dental Sciences in Belagavi before marrying Praveen Halappanavar, an engineer from Haveri in Karnataka. Savita shifted to Ireland along with Praveen in July 2012 and received a licence to practice dentistry in Ireland.
Four months after she conceived, she developed severe back pain and was admitted to the University Hospital in Galway on October 21, 2012. Savitha was told her foetus would not survive but abortion was illegal at the time in Ireland, a Catholic country. According to medical experts, Savita delivered a stillborn and subsequently died due to sepsis.
Savitha's death turned out to be a catalyst for the abortion rights movement in Ireland and it sparked a movement with people calling for the country's law against abortions to be liberalised. Savita's family joined the movement appealing for a repeal of the amendment and six years after her death, the law was repealed by a majority vote in a referendum. Now, abortion is allowed on request up to 12 weeks, and later where there is a risk to the life or health of the mother, and in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities.