Termination could have saved Savita, Irish court told

A WOMAN who died in an Irish hospital after a miscarriage would probably have survived if she had been given the abortion she demanded.

Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, 31, was refused a termination because her life was considered to be not at risk, as required by Irish law.

Obstetrician Dr Peter Boylan told a Galway inquest the infection that killed her was already present before the request was refused on 24 October last year.

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“The problem was the inability to terminate prior to Mrs Halappanavar developing a real risk to her life,” he said. “By that time it was effectively too late.” Mrs Halappanavar was 17 weeks’ pregnant when admitted to University Hospital Galway on 21 October and died a week later from septicaemia and E coli, four days after losing her baby.