Reproductive Politics

Limited access to abortion in Ireland is causing further scandal. An Indian woman who lived in Ireland, Dr. Savita Halappanavar, died because doctors delayed addressing complications from her miscarriage at 17 weeks of pregnancy. Dr. Halappanavar was in the process of miscarrying. The process of miscarriage introduces the danger of serious infection, with the risk increasing over time. The indicated treatment, then, is to hasten the end of the pregnancy-- i.e., perform an abortion. Dr. Halappanavar's doctors did not, and she died of septicemia. The first thought that came to mind after reading about this tragedy was that Dr. Halappanavar's sad and avoidable death is direct evidence against the assertion that an abortion is never "medically necessary" to save the life of a pregnant woman . Given that the Dr. Halappanavar's unborn child, at 17 weeks, was pre-viable and 100% certain to die-- she was, after all, in the process of miscarrying-- why wouldn'...