Remembering Savita Halappanavar, the Belagavi woman whose death sparked a mass movement in Ireland

The bill ensures that women can access an abortion if there is a real and substantial risk to their lives, including suicide.

On Saturday, a march to mark the 10th anniversary of Savita Halappanavar’s death has been organised by ROSA, the Socialist Feminist Movement. Also, Galway’s Indian community will observe a minute’s silence in her memory as they celebrate the Festival of Lights, Deepavali.

In Belagavi, Akkamahadevi, too, will remember her youngest child.

“My daughter is gone. I can never forgive the authorities and the law which killed her. They have changed things yes, all that is good; but I will never get my daughter back,” Akkamahadevi told South First.

Who was Savita Halappanavar?

Savita Halappanavar, born in Bagalkote, was the youngest of Andanappa and Akkamahadevi’s three children. Her elder brothers — Santosh and Sanjeev, both engineers — live in the Netherlands. And she is still fondly remembered back home.

“She was a chirpy, highly intelligent girl. I was not only her professor, but also her neighbour. She would come home seeking help in her studies while she was doing her MBBS,” Dr Sudheer Kulgod, renowned dentist from Belagavi and a resident of the Srinagar area where Savita’s family resided, told South First.

Dr Savita Halappanavar of Belagavi who died in Ireland in 2012 a week after miscarriage due to septicemia in Ireland’s University Galway University Hospital. (Wikimedia Commons)

After completing her course in dentistry from the KLE VK Institute of Dental Sciences in Belagavi, Savita married Praveen Halappanavar, an engineer from Haveri.

Savita’s mother said Praveen was a loving son-in-law and most caring husband to Savita.

“Theirs was an arranged marriage. We had told the family that only if our daughter and we like him and his family, will we agree to this wedding. We all liked them a lot and the marriage was held in 2008,” Akkamahadevi recalled.

Praveen was already working in Ireland and so the two shifted there after the wedding. Savita cleared her Irish Dental Council examinations in July 2012 and received a license to practise in Ireland.

The same month, four years into wedlock, she conceived. Coincidentally, her parents were in Ireland on a visit at that time.

“We were so happy as it was their first child and both of us were with her when she told us the happy news,” Akkamahadevi said.

Just as they were preparing to return home after a three-month stay, Savita developed severe backpain and was admitted to hospital.

“We realised her pregnancy had to be terminated, but we couldn’t stay there and hence returned home to India,” Akkamahadevi said.

Two days after they were back in Belagavi came news that Savita had delivered a stillborn female foetus.

The next day, she was transferred to intensive care as she was suffering from septic shock and was critically ill. Soon her condition worsened, and her heart stopped beating on 28 October.

What went wrong?

Savita went to the University Hospital in Galway with a complaint of back pain on 21 October, 2012. She was 17 weeks pregnant at that time.

Akkamahadevi and Andanappa, Savita’s parents. (Wikimedia Commons)

Savita was having a miscarriage and she was told that her fetus would not survive. An abortion was the answer, but in Ireland, a Catholic country, it was illegal to terminate a pregnancy while the foetus still had a heartbeat.

This led to complications that eventually caused Savita’s death.

The post-mortem revealed that Savita had died due to sepsis, an infection. It was a clear case of mismanaged miscarriage, and the media blamed the law that prevented her from having an abortion for her unnecessary and untimely death.

“Now, the abortion laws have changed, I hear. Women in Ireland can save their daughters’ lives. But what about mine?” asked Savita’s mother.

How Savita’s death led to change in laws

Abortion had been illegal in Ireland under Article 40.3.3, passed in a referendum on 7 September, 1983, when the state had decided that it would “defend and vindicate” the “right to life of the unborn… with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother”.

There were massive protests after Savita’s death in Ireland, leading to a change in law.

Savita’s death in 2012 angered and shocked the people of Ireland, kicked up an international controversy and sparked a campaign to have the country’s abortion law liberalised.

There were candlelight vigils with men, women, young and old chanting “Savita! Savita”. People were out on the streets with placards demanding justice and an immediate change in the abortion law and a repeal of the 1983 amendment.

Savita’s parents too joined the battle and appealed for a repeal of the amendment. After six years of her death, on 25 May, 2018, the law was repealed by a majority “Yes” vote of 66.4 per cent. There were celebrations at Dublin Castle to mark the victory.

“It was Savita’s victory. We believed that she ‘rests in peace’ thereafter. Though I am glad that the abortion legislation has changed now and permits abortion on request up to 12 weeks, there still needs more expansion of the law,” said Dr Kulgod.

Now, as per The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018, abortion is allowed on request up to 12 weeks, with a mandatory three-day wait between seeking an abortion and accessing abortifacient medication, and thereafter where there is a threat to the mother’s life or health.

However, women with Fatal Foetal Abnormalities cases need certifications from two doctors that the baby will die within 28 days of birth. And they still have to travel for an abortion, if they do not find doctors to certify that the death will occur within the timeframe.

Activists in Ireland are still pushing for an expansion of the abortion law.

Savita’s family now

Savita’s mother told South First that her father Andanappa, who was very attached to her, had slipped into depression after her death.

“Savita was her father’s favourite. After her death, he fell ill and was also in depression. His kidneys had failed and was under dialysis. He passed away two years ago,” said Akkamahadevi, who now lives with her elder son, who spends most of the time in India with his mother.

Meanwhile, Savita’s husband Praveen has remarried and lives in San Jose, California.