Savita’s death highlights perils of legislation vacuum

Legislation vacuum is inexcusable


Off the fence
Ciara Moynihan

The tragic death of Savita Halappanavar on October 28 in University Hospital Galway has shaken the nation. The story is simply heartbreaking. What her husband and her family must be going through is impossible to imagine.
What is not impossible to imagine, however, is their anguish being compounded by the stomach-churning idea that this young woman’s life was apparently allowed to slip away due to something as mundane, something as self-serving, as political anxiety.
Two decades have passed since Attorney General v X, or ‘the X Case’. Two decades. Almost one-and-a-half times the lifetime of the 14-year-old rape victim at the centre of that case.
That suicidal child, who had been raped by her neighbour, was prevented from travelling to the UK for an abortion by an injunction issued by then Attorney General Harry Whelehan, an injunction that was upheld by the High Court. That decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, however, in a ruling that established the right of Irish women to an abortion in situations where the woman’s life is at ‘real and substantial risk’ because of pregnancy.
However, successive governments have failed to grasp the nettle and legislate for the X Case ruling. They have run scared, fearful of making a decision that could cost them votes in the next election. Women and girls’ right to life is less costly, it seems. 
That medical practitioners have therefore been left in legal limbo, without specific medical guidelines and a legal framework within which to assess ‘real and substantial risk’, is inexcusable. In the absence of such guidelines, medical decisions must be made on an ad hoc basis and can conceivably be influenced by the threat of legal consequence. As a result, what may be avoidable tragedies, such as the death of Savita Halappanavar, can occur.
Two years ago in the ABC Case, which saw three women take a case against the State, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland failed to uphold the constitutional right to lawful abortion where a mother’s life is at risk.
An expert group was set up to examine and report on the European Court’s judgement and to set out recommendations on how the Government should respond. In almost cruel timing in light of Savita Halappanavar’s death, that report landed on Minister Reilly’s desk last week.   
The Government must report to the Council of Europe on the implementation of the ABC judgement by November 30. On Friday last, Senator Ivana Bacik not unreasonably called for a firm proposal for Government legislation by that date.
However, speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 on Sunday, Minister Reilly said it would be sometime early next year before ‘a clear Government position is made’. One can only hope that this baffling delay – and studious avoidance of the term ‘legislate’ – will not turn into another shameful and protracted bout of ostrich syndrome in the DΡil.