[Savita Halappanavar, a
31-year-old dentist who lived near Galway, Ireland, was 17 weeks pregnant when
she was informed, on complaining of severe back pain, that she was having a
miscarriage. Despite repeated requests for an abortion, she was told that
Ireland is a Catholic country, said her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, and that
it would be illegal to terminate a pregnancy while the fetus's heart was still
beating. A few days later, Dr. Halappanavar died of septicemia on Oct. 28 at
the University Hospital Galway. ]
 |
Reuters
Savita Halappanavar in an undated family photo in Galway, Ireland. |
The death of an Indian
woman in Ireland who was reportedly refused a potentially lifesaving abortion
has rekindled the debate on abortion laws in the predominantly Catholic nation
and has sparked outrage in India.
"We are shocked
that such a death was allowed to take place in this day and age," said
Sudha Sundararaman, the general secretary of the All India Democratic Women's
Association, by telephone. "We lost a life that could have been saved by
medical intervention because of a religion-based law that goes completely
against international laws."
Savita Halappanavar, a
31-year-old dentist who lived near Galway, Ireland, was 17 weeks pregnant when
she was informed, on complaining of severe back pain, that she was having a
miscarriage. Despite repeated requests for an abortion, she was told that
Ireland is a Catholic country, said her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, and that
it would be illegal to terminate a pregnancy while the fetus's heart was still
beating. A few days later, Dr. Halappanavar died of septicemia on Oct. 28 at
the University Hospital Galway.
Protesters took to the
streets of Ireland and New Delhi, raising banners and chanting slogans, in
response to Dr. Halappanavar's death, which many blamed on Ireland's abortion
laws, among the most restrictive in the world.
"I don't think as
a country we should allow a situation where women's rights are put at risk in
this way," Eamon Gilmore, Ireland's deputy prime minister, told Parliament
on Thursday. "There is no question of equivocation. We need to bring legal
clarity to this issue, and that is what we are going to do."
Two inquiries have
been set up to determine the cause of Dr. Halappanavar's death.
On Friday, the Indian
government too stepped in, promising to take up the matter with the Irish.
"It is a sad issue," said the foreign minister, Salman Khurshid, in a
televised interview. "They have a legal framework that is rooted in
religion. But there can't be a bigger goal in religion than to save the life of
a mother."
The Irish ambassador
to India, Feilim McLaughlin, met with M. Ganapathi, a secretary in the ministry
of external affairs this afternoon. 'He conveyed that there is a sense of angst
in India caused by the fact that a life was cut short in its prime,' said Syed
Akbaruddin, the official spokesman for the external affairs ministry. The
government of India also expressed hope that the probe would be thorough and
independent, and that the Indian government would be kept informed about the
progress and the outcome of the inquiry, Mr. Akbaruddin said. It was also
conveyed, he said, that "we hope no other Indian meets the same
fate."
The Indian ambassador
to Ireland also met with the Irish foreign minister on Friday.
India will request
that the Irish authorities share the results of the investigations. "We
are taking one step at a time," said Mr. Akbaruddin. "We want to
first understand what the circumstances of the death were."
But activists in India
say there needs to be more action. "Minority and immigrant communities
should lead a movement to protect their interests in the countries of their
residence," said Kirti Singh, an advocate in Delhi who works on issues of
women's rights.
The Indian government
should also register a protest with the Irish authorities, she said, since an
Indian did not receive adequate care from their medical system. "What
happened was in violation of international law and our national laws," she
said.
The international
position, she explained, is that a woman must have the right to an abortion if
there is danger to her life. India's abortion law, which was passed in 1972 and
is broader in scope, allows abortions in several circumstances, including when
the life of the mother is at risk, where rape is involved and even when
contraception fails.
Ms. Singh advocates
expanding abortion rights even further, arguing that women shouldn't have to
justify their decision to end their pregnancies. "When we are fighting for
broader rights in India, how can we allow something like this to happen?"
she said.
Ireland's laws place a
near ban on abortion, a fraught and emotive social issue in that country. In
1992, in what is known as the "X-case" involving a 14-year-old rape
victim, the Supreme Court ruled that abortions would be allowed when there was
a "real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of
the mother."
Since then, successive
governments, reluctant to stir the pot on an issue that could alienate
conservative voters, have dragged their feet on legislation that would lay down
precisely the circumstances in which an abortion would be legal. As a result,
thousands of women seeking to terminate their pregnancies travel to nearby
England and Wales, which have less stringent abortion laws.
Whether or not Dr.
Halappanavar's case induces a change in Ireland's legal system, many in India
say that Dr. Halappanavar's family and the Indian government must demand
justice. "If the investigation shows that the death was a consequence of
the law, then we need to fight at the international level," said Rajeev
Chandrasekhar, an Indian parliamentarian. "Someone has lost their life.
There must be accountability."
This idea is not
without precedent. In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights heard the case
of a woman from Lithuania who was in remission from cancer and believed that
there was a risk that her pregnancy would cause a relapse. She was also
concerned about a risk to the fetus if she carried it to term.
Unable to get an
abortion in Ireland, she decided to have one in England. She argued that by
denying her an abortion, Ireland had violated her human rights by putting her
life at risk. The court ordered Ireland to pay 15,000 euros ($19,000) in
damages to the woman.
[Friends of India Las Vegas, a nonprofit group that promotes Indian culture in Las Vegas and has been active in area for the last 27 years, organized a cultural show on Saturday, which had about 150 participants and over 950 attendees. Performances included Indian classical recitals by children and musical renditions of Bollywood and classical favorites by Indian-Americans.]
Diwali, the Hindu
festival of lights, is marked by five days of revelry, replete with boxes of
desi (pure) ghee sweets and earsplitting firecrackers that sparkle in the sky.
The party is incomplete without shuffling a deck of playing cards and winning
the popular game or two of teen patti, also known as flash.
If you win at games of
chance during Diwali, according to the popular belief, the goddess Lakshmi, the
bearer of wealth, will generously bestow riches upon you during the new year.
Gambling is frowned upon for the rest of the year for Hindus.
So, naturally, the
gaming capital of the United States, Las Vegas, embraces Diwali. And despite
the city's well-established reputation as a spot where outlandish,
uncharacteristic behavior is welcomed, for Diwali, Las Vegas goes a little
traditional.
Here are a few of the
social and cultural events that marked Diwali celebrations in Las Vegas this
year, courtesy of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association:
Friends of India Las Vegas, a nonprofit group
that promotes Indian culture in Las Vegas and has been active in area for the
last 27 years, organized a cultural show on Saturday, which had about 150
participants and over 950 attendees. Performances included Indian classical
recitals by children and musical renditions of Bollywood and classical favorites
by Indian-Americans.
No Indian festival is
complete without the ritualistic puja, or prayer. The Hindu Temple of Las Vegas, which opened in
April 2001, was the venue for the Diwali puja on Monday evening.
Origin India, a
restaurant and bar in Las Vegas, offered a five-day special meal for the
festival, which included pindi channa, a spicy preparation of chickpeas, and
sarson ka sag makki ki roti with mooli and methi, mustard greens and corn flour
flatbread served with radish and fenugreek.
The restaurant has
also been organizing a daylong Diwali event for the last six years, which in
the past has attracted about 150 people. "This event has allowed us to
communicate Indian traditions to people who are not familiar with them"
and rouse interest in Diwali among "non-Indians and Indians alike in Las
Vegas," said Sara Talesfore, a spokeswoman for Origin India, in an e-mail.
Promoters of Diwali in
Las Vegas hope for a beeline of Indians to try their luck there this week. But
actual numbers are hard to come by since the Las Vegas
Convention and Visitors Authority does not provide any figures on
the nationality or the origin of visiting gamers.
