The fiercely Catholic Ireland barred divorce, same-sex marriage until three decades ago. If contraceptive sales were banned, so were abortions, even if meant endangerment of the mother. In 1979 sale of contraceptives was permitted, same-sex leanings decriminalised in 1993, divorce in 1996 and same-sex marriages in 2015. Two days ago, on 26 May 2018, the nation went to vote out the ban on abortions, the Irish women ascertaining their rights to choose or end the lives they create.
The referendum, which changed the course of the nation was fuelled by the government’s denial in 2012 to abort a miscarriage affected medical professional of Indian Origin, Savita Halappanavar, 31, who succumbed to septicaemia. The nation rose in revolt and kept protesting, which galvanised into a national referendum reversing the ban and atone for the sad demise of Savita.
Buddhism, Islam, Christianity (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox), Judaism, Hinduism and even Atheists and Agonists proscribe abortions. Mahatma Gandhi stated, “it seems to me as clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime,” and Pope Francis, “It’s horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of the day.” It’s no surprise that the Vatican features in the country that bans abortion, even when it could put the mother’s life in danger.
El Salvador has severe punishments for abortions, the jail terms often extending up to 30 years. Malta, San Marino and Andorra are on the same side as the Vatican on abortions.
There are countries like Chile, Cyprus and Poland, which permit abortion in cases of rape, and in instances where pregnancy is the cause of the health of the mother or the child. Abortion is partially allowed in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Oman, Paraguay, Somalia, South-Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Venezuela, West Bank/ Gaza and Yemen.
Many nations like North America, Europe and northern Asia as well as Cambodia, Guyana, Mozambique, South Africa, Uruguay and Vietnam have unrestricted abortion laws.
India permits abortions until 20 weeks into pregnancy, while countries like France, Belgium, Denmark, and Greece allow medical termination of pregnancy up to 14 to 24 weeks. In most other EU countries abortion is legal. Russia leads the world with 551 abortions per 1000 live births. Australia has different laws in different states. It’s technically illegal in NSW and Queensland.
Abortion is a sensitive women’s subject, but most religions have conservatively dealt with the issue, and blinded by scriptures alone, without giving weight to the changing times, a liberated women’s mind-set and their changing lifestyles. While the physical danger to either the mother or the child gets emphasised, the mental trauma and the agony of a mother is rarely understood by many.
If Ireland was progressive, the nation might not have lost a bubbly dentist, Savita, in an untimely death.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide voix