Amid the row over the death of an Indian dentist in Ireland, the Irish government has told the Council of Europe that any seriously ill woman who is pregnant and whose request for a termination is refused is entitled to a second medical opinion.
'We need to celebrate those that buck the stereotype, such as Malala, Toorpekai, and Ziauddin Yousufzai in Pakistan. But, by the same token, we also need to condemn blind adherence to tradition in the urban, civilised areas of the West as in the case of Savita Halappanavar,' says T V R Shenoy.
'It is as if once a woman conceives, she immediately relinquishes the right to take decisions regarding her body; her entire identity must now be subsumed into her role as an engine of reproduction and society must do all it can to keep her strapped to that role,' says Shuma Raha.
One of the key cases influencing the debate on abortion in Ireland was that of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died of sepsis in a hospital in Galway after being denied an abortion during a protracted miscarriage in 2012.
The new development came following the case of 31-year-old Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died in agony from blood poisoning after doctors refused her repeated requests for an abortion while she was having a miscarriage at a Galway hospital in 2012.
Ireland's parliament was forced to adjourn the debate on a bill that would legalise abortion for the first time in the predominantly Catholic country after an all-night debate on the issue moved into a second day on Thursday.
The grieving parents of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died following a miscarriage in Ireland last year, say they are still waiting for justice as no one has taken responsibility for their daughter's death.
A cascade of errors and uncertainty about the law on abortion contributed largely to the tragic death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar at an Irish hospital last year, according to an official enquiry report.
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