It's worth pointing that the Irish Supreme court ruled that abortion should be legal if it threatened the life of the mother
twenty years ago, but no legislation was ever passed (we're on our seventh government since that ruling). In 2010 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland's abortion laws violated basic human rights, but again, nothing was done. To date, there's
no legislation on what to do in a situation like Savita's. The only actual law we have dates back to 1861 (yes, that's an eight) when Ireland was still part of the Commonwealth. That's why the doctors refused to act- they'd be stepping into a legal minefield if they did.
Also, multiple surveys over the past fifteen years have indicated that the majority of Irish people support abortion if it's medically necessary, a smaller proportion think it should be available on demand and less than 18% think it should be outright banned. It's generally easy for women who want abortions to travel to England for them (you can get a return flight for less than €30), which has allowed politicians who are too cowardly to tackle the issue to avoid it lest they upset the few who actually like things the way they are.
Ireland isn't nearly as Catholic as it's made out to be- the numbers are inflated because religion is seen almost more as a hereditary thing than a personal one. My mum was an atheist but everyone always called her a Catholic because that's what my grandparents are. Similarly, my school records all say I'm Catholic because I'm not religious so they put it down by default. People I went to school with identified themselves as Catholic or Protestant but admitted to not believing in God. My cousin had to ask my aunt if she (the cousin) was Catholic or protestant when she was filling out the last census. The strict Catholics have become a minority in the past 20 years, and they're rapidly becoming more and more of a minority. Eamonn Gilmore, Ireland's Tánaiste (deputy Prime Minister), is an atheist who regularly speaks out against the Catholic Church and I'd say no one's more sickened than him.
Here are interviews with some of the protesters from last night. There's another big one planned for Saturday, I'll probably head along to that.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking48.html
*edit* It just has to be said: the religion she died for wasn't even her own.
**edit**
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbrosiaWriter
I also hope this gets the fanatics in the USA to STFU for a while, but I doubt it will. They'll probably start slamming on their drums saying that the heathen slut deserved to die. (Yes, I have heard the opinion that a woman who would consider an abortion deserves to die if she is denied one and has to take extreme, life threatening measures.)
|
I've seen comments to that effect already, as well as people blaming her for getting pregnant in the first place. If they'd bothered to learn about the story they'd know that she was married and wanted to have the baby. She was upset when she found out she was losing it but accepted what was happening and simply asked doctors to get the inevitable over with.
Woman dies after being denied an abortion because "this is a Catholic country"
Linear Mode
