An woman in Ireland who requested an abortion after a medically-complicated miscarriage is dead, after doctors refused to give her an abortion, saying it was a "Catholic country."
Savita Halappanavar, 31, died of blood poisoning a week after she was admitted to the hospital in Galway complaining of back pain.
Doctors said her water had broken, long before it should have, since Halappanavar was only 17-weeks pregnant.
According to her husband, she was shivering and vomiting, and she was in extreme pain, all signs that the amniotic sac had ruptured and that she was at risk for infection.
Halappanavar requested an abortion, as there was no way for her to carry the fetus to term at that point, but doctors refused, saying there was still a fetal heartbeat present.
Abortion is illegal in all cases in Ireland unless the life of the mother is in danger.
Halappanavar continued to request an abortion for three days, until the fetal heartbeat finally stopped. The doctors performed the procedure, but bacteria had already found its way into her bloodstream. She died several days later.
Abortion rights advocates are demanding revision of the country's extremely strict laws regarding the procedure. Doctors are often afraid to perform abortions in cases where it is probably medically necessary, since the law only allows abortions when the life of the mother is in danger, with no consideration for the health of the mother, or whether the fetus will be in any way viable.
At 17-weeks, Halappanavar's fetus was 7 weeks shy of the typically-recognized cutoff for viability in the United States.
Halappanavar's family is furious. They are neither Irish nor Catholic, but Hindus who work in Ireland. Halappanavar was a dentist, and her husband is an engineer for Boston Scientific.
"Savita said she is not Catholic, she is Hindu, and why impose the law on her," said her husband Praveen Halappanavar.
"But [the doctor] said, 'I'm sorry, unfortunately it's a Catholic country,' and it's the law that they can't abort when the fetus is live."
"In an attempt to save a 4-month-old fetus they killed my 30-year-old daughter. How is that fair, you tell me?" said Halappanavar's mother, A. Mahadevi on told Indian television.
While this tragedy occurred in Ireland, it is reminiscent of comments by outgoing Republican representative Joe Walsh of Illinois, who in October said abortion is never necessary to save a woman's life.
"With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance" of a medically-necessary abortion, he said.
Walsh lost his reelection bid last week to Tammy Duckworth, largely because of his comments on abortion, which were roundly denounced by doctors and medical professionals.
Perhaps Irish politicians will share the same fate.