A man takes his wife and
their young son boating. The boat capsizes in deep waters. The man is a good
swimmer but his wife and son can’t swim. The husband can save only one of them.
The question here is who should be given the preference. If a decision is
delayed, both would drown.
Was it something like this that happened in Ireland last
month?
Did the 31 years old Indian
dentist Savita Halappanavar die because the doctors at the hospital in Galway, Ireland
could not decide about aborting her 17 week pregnancy?
Media reports do not
indicate so. The doctors specifically decided not to interfere and save the mother because there was foetal heartbeat. Their justification was
that Ireland
is a Catholic country and the laws do not permit abortion.
Ireland is not a Catholic country. It is a republic. And, 20
years back that country’s Supreme Court had asked the government to make
suitable changes in the abortion law. That has not been done yet.
What would have happened if
the doctors had gone ahead with medical termination of the pregnancy and saved Savita? Technically, they could have been prosecuted. Many Irish women go to England for
abortion because of this problem in their own country. Why bother about the theology of when the soul enters a foetus or
whether a 17 week old foetus can be baptised?
The sad truth is that Irish
law relating to abortion is archaic. In Britain the relevant portion of the Penal
Code was amended in 1967. In India
too abortion was proscribed. Women who wanted to terminate pregnancy had to
approach unethical doctors or quacks. Countless cases ended up with severe
complications and even the woman’s death.
India shook itself awake and enacted the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act
which came into effect on April 1, 1972. Instead of abortion being defined as
purposely causing miscarriage it became medical termination of pregnancy.
Bravo, India.
What was result? Of course
there was the good side to the legislation that was essential. Though the Act
which was amended once, in 1975, provides specific conditions, many foetuses
which would have been born girls, were aborted. Who wants a girl child?
In cases like Savita’s, a
good doctor should interfere and save the mother, in any country, any religion.
Will the Church frown if the man whose boat capsized saves his wife though she
happens to be beyond childbearing?
Savita is a martyr. Her tragedy, sad, depressing as it is, has brought world attention to
the question. It is likely to induce Ireland and other such countries to
revise antiquated laws. Hopefully. Ireland has not given any
commitment yet.
Heartfelt condolences to
Savita’s family.
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