Like many all over the world, I am saddened and outraged by the death of Savita Halappanavar, who was killed in a Dublin hospital because of a refusal to treat her miscarriage, dooming her to die of blood poisoning.
In addition to anger at her death, I am angry at how it is being framed, as the denial of an abortion. She arrived at the hospital with her fetus miscarrying. There was no way to save this fetus, either inside her body or outside. The fetus was doomed. The issue was providing proper care for her miscarriage, so that she would not die as well.
If we start thinking and talking about basic, established medical care for miscarriages as “abortions,” simply by using this terminology, we are caving to the crazies.
In Ireland, they just unnecessarily murdered a young woman under the sick and twisted guise of being pro-life. If it were up to Paul Ryan and others in the GOP who share his extremist views, the same thing would happen to American women.
Embattled Farmers 
Yes, this story deeply saddened me – no excuse whatsoever. A story that could repeat itself in the US.
Dr. Jen Gunter here on wordpress has a couple of posts regarding it and worth checking out. On a Catholic forum the excuse being used is she died because she had an infection so no harm, no foul – uh except for the fact that they refused to treat the source of the infection…
Have you ever checked out the number of Catholic run hospitals and HMO’s in the US and what their policy is?
The policy is to let the mother die. St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix lost its Catholic status after a dying 11-week- old fetus was removed to save the mother’s life (and let her live to raise her other four children) in 2010.
At least here, you don’t have to go to a Catholic hospital, but Ireland is a Catholic country, and so the dead woman and her husband had no choice, even though they personally were not Catholic.
A reminder of the Founding Fathers’ wisdom in separating church and state.
My concern is that there are so many areas where there is only a Catholic hospital. The sheer numbers concern me greatly – sure some could go elsewhere if they have the means to travel but sometimes that isn’t possible.
I know, and aside from money, sometimes you just need to get to the closest hospital, and once there, it may not be easy to get transferred. It’s definitely a problem here as well. At least the people in Phoenix did the right thing, even if they got punished for it.
She had blood poisoning from the dying fetus. If they’d acted promptly and reasonably, she’d still be alive, and she and her husband could mourn this pregnancy and then try again.
I will never think of Ireland as a civilized nation again.
I am so saddened by this terrible story, as you are. And I am angry as well, and I am moved to act and to keep on speaking out.
Thank you for your honesty and your courage; keep calling them out on this! I will lend my voice to yours, I promise.