Ireland abortion death

Ireland's strict anti-abortion laws are under fire after an Indian woman living there died after being refused an abortion last month.

Savita Halappanavar(31) went into a hospital on October 21, 2012 complaining of back pain. She was 17 weeks pregnant at the time.

The doctors who examined her told her she was having a miscarriage but denied her an abortion even though she was in extreme pain, her husband has said.
Doctors at Galway University Hospital said that as long as the fetal heartbeat could be felt, the law prevented them from ending the pregnancy, Holland said. Halappanavar died of septicemia, or a blood infection, after three days in the hospital.

 Demonstrators hold placards and candles in memory of Indian Savita Halappanavar and in support of legislative change on abortion during a march from the Garden of Remembrance to the Irish Parliament in Dublin, November 17, 2012

Abortion rights protesters, bearing the pictures of Savita Halappanavar, march through central Dublin, on November 17, 2012, demanding that Ireland's government ensures that abortions can be performed to save a woman's life.