EXACTLY A year since the death of Ardamine woman, Michelle Harte, (40), who campaigned publicly on behalf of cancer sufferers who found themselves pregnant, the death of Savita Halappanavar, (31), who was 17 weeks pregnant, has raised this divisive issue again of abortion where the life of the mother is considered at risk.

Ms. Halappanavar, a dentist, asked several times over a three-day period that her pregnancy be terminated, but the request was refused, according to her husband, because the foetal heartbeat was still present and they were told, “This is a Catholic country”.
Her death has caused outrage across the country and thousands of people marched publicly at the weekend calling for legal clarity on the matter of termination in cases where the mother’s health is at serious risk.
In December, 2010, Michelle Harte, made national headlines, after she revealed that she was forced to travel to the UK for an abortion.
She was receiving cancer treatment at Cork University Hospital when she discovered she was pregnant – she was delighted at the news – but her joy was extinguished when doctors quickly informed her that the pregnancy would pose a significant risk to her health and advised her to undergo a termination.
Ms. Harte was forced to wait on the hospital’s ethics forum to determine whether she would be granted permission for an abortion in Ireland.
Ms. Harte told THE ECHO at the time; “I was shocked when they came back and said no, they wouldn’t allow it because my life was not in immediate danger.”
She endured the stress of going to London for the procedure which had been arranged for her by her consultant.
Speaking on the RTE programme, ‘Morning Ireland’, Ms. Harte stated that being forced to travel for an abortion was a nightmare. “It was a horrible experience that I hope no other woman will have to go through.”
The former nurse said that she made a decision to speak publicly about her situation after the European Court of Human Rights ruled (in December 2010) that Ireland had breached the human rights of a woman in similar circumstances.
Abortion in Ireland is only permitted where the life of the mother is considered to be at risk.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the State had failed to grant this right to a Lithuanian woman, living in Ireland, who suffered from a rare form of cancer and feared it would relapse when she became pregnant.
Sadly, brave and courageous, Michelle Harte passed away a year ago. Nobody listened to her appeal for compassion for pregnant woman, now twelve months later, the unacceptable death of an Indian wife and mother has caused consternation because of the lack of clarity about when an abortion is or is not legal in this country.
The shocking death of Savita Halappanavar has been aired on all the major media networks around the world and Amnesty International has called on the Irish Government to change the law on abortion ‘in line with international human rights laws’.

Read the story in this week’s edition of THE GOREY ECHO.