The death of Savita Halappanavar
THE READERS:What you said on irishtimes.com in recent days
On the night of Tuesday November 13th, the Irish Times report on the death of Savita Halappanavar was released with a single tweet that shared the front page of the following morning’s newspaper. That tweet reached a potential audience of hundreds of thousands and brought to global attention the story of what had happened in Galway days earlier.
The full text of the front-page article appeared on irishtimes.coman hour later, at 12.30am on Wednesday, November 14th. “Two investigations are under way into the death of a woman who was 17 weeks pregnant, at University Hospital Galway last month,” it reported.
That article, by Kitty Holland and Paul Cullen, is now the most-read and most-engaged-with article ever to have appeared on the Irish Times website. The article was engaged with more than 93,000 times on Facebook, with more than 16,000 people sharing the article among their social networks.
Discussion and debate on irishtimes.comaround the story, predominantly lead by Opinion & Analysis pieces from The Irish Times, has been intense. To date, of the articles on the Savita Halappanavar case that have been open to comment, almost 4,000 comments have been posted online.
This week, one article alone has attracted an unprecedented number of comments from readers, more than 1,000 in all. On Facebook the original article by Kitty Holland and Paul Cullen attracted more than 47,000 comments.
Thursday, November 15th
'Failure to legislate on X case test may cost lives'
Article: Barrister and law lecturer Paul McDermott wrote that “the judgments in the X case were delivered over two decades ago but it appears that it is still too early for our politicians to say what the effect of those judgments should be on our law”. Comments included:
The problem for the conservative elements of the legislature is that they know that the constitutional protection for the mother is significantly stronger than they would like to have to deal with. Anything they come up with will be tested. SmellybeardM
This is a shame on successive Irish governments, all politicians (who kept silent) the medical establishment, and the Catholic Church! My heart goes out to Savita’s husband and family, and may her death lead to progressive change. PaulMeuse
What muc savagery we present to the rest of the world. The insistance that a feotal heartbeat takes precedence over a womans life is barbaric, backward and bottom feeding madness. mollymaguire20
Friday, November 16th
‘Time for Government to stop talking and legislate’
Article: Senator Ivana Bacik wrote: “The courts have spoken. The people have spoken. A young woman has died tragically. It’s time for us to stop talking and legislate.”
This government must now produce legislation to resolve this intolerable indifference to the protection of the life of the mother in crisis pregnancy. Nothing less will suffice, the damage to Ireland’s reputation abroad is already incalculable. LeoRegan
We’re getting Lost in Legislation. Getting back to the human aspect, the saddest thing is that Savita Halappanavar never came to experience the motherhood she longed for nor got the opportunity to try again. NiallODonoghue
Christian religion murdered this woman. Religion is one of the foul things on this planet. This would not have happened in a normal country not run by religion. In memory of this lady and for the sake of every female of childbearing age in Ireland, this needs to change. We as women are tired of men trying to use christian mythology to rule us. TerriMerritts
