Legal abortion not the answer in Ireland deaths

http://www.lifesitenews.com/blog/legal-abortion-not-the-answer-in-ireland-deaths

BY STEPHANIE GRAY

Tue Nov 20, 2012

Do the tragic deaths in Ireland of Savita Halappanavar and her pre-born daughter Prasa really make a case for legal abortion?  Many across the world are coming to that conclusion but overlooking an important piece of information recently reported in The Irish Times and The Guardian: an autopsy revealed that Halappanavar died of septicaemia “documented ante-mortem” and E.coli ESBL.

Countless news reports are only talking about the septicaemia (i.e., blood poisoning), but few are discussing E.coli ESBL, which, incidentally enough, can lead to, you guessed it, septicaemia.  Just what is E. coli ESBL?  An antibiotic-resistant bacteria (not to be confused with regular strains of E. coli that cause food poisoning) that is associated with urinary tract infections (UTI).  This strain of E. coli has been spreading in the UK and last year two babies died in nearby Wales because of it.  The presence of E. coli ESBL is particularly problematic if Halappanavar was given antibiotics to fight an infection that was resistant to those very antibiotics.

According to the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, E. coli is one of the most common organisms to cause a UTI and complicated UTIs are frequently associated with pregnancy.  They write, “The likelihood of treatment failure and serious complications, particularly the development of antimicrobial resistance, is more common in cUTI [complicated urinary tract infection].

So instead of jumping to the conclusions that Halappanavar needed an abortion and that Ireland needs to legalize the killing of the youngest of its kind, the reasonable approach would be to get to the bottom of what Halappanavar’s condition was and examine how it was, or was not, responded to.  We have yet to hear from the hospital and the medical professionals involved as to what precisely happened, but with this report of her dying from E. coli ESBL one wonders how killing Halappanavar’s baby Prasa would have killed the E. coli.

Is it possible that E. coli ESBL ascended her vagina and entered her uterus via the dilated cervix?  Yes, that’s possible.  But it’s also possible that her cervix dilated (thus initiating a miscarriage) because E. coli ESBL ascended her urinary tract and caused an infection in her kidneys, which can lead to uterine contractions, and if not treated, to cervical change.

So the infection could have been elsewhere in her body besides the uterus.  Even if it was in the latter (a condition known as chorioamnionitis) then it is an ethical course of action to induce labour to eliminate this pathological and lethal condition (the presence of infected membranes) from her uterus.  But that act itself wouldn’t have eliminated the E. coli ESBL if it actually originated in the urinary tract, which, if resistant to interventions like antibiotics, could have lead to the septicaemia.

And yet, The Toronto Star would have you believe, “There’s a very simple reason why Savita died. It’s because she wasn’t listened to.” On the contrary, much more needs to be known about how she died.  But what we do know is that jumping to the conclusion that abortion should be legalized in Ireland overlooks the underlying medical condition and makes the dangerous assumption that we need to kill one person to save another.

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‘Legalize abortion now!’: The whole world is baying for the blood of Irish children

Firstly, many thanks to the alternative media, the real free press that Belloc wrote of. True to form RTE and others have been disgusting. An excellent article here from Hilary White.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-whole-world-is-baying-for-the-blood-of-irish-children

BY HILARY WHITE

ROME, November 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At LifeSiteNews.com, we like to report facts. Things that are actually happening, that people are actually doing and saying. Speculation on things that might be happening, or things that might have happened, is a realm for irresponsible tabloids and the leftist gutter press. Which is why I was hesitant to produce a piece talking any further about the case in Ireland that is arousing passions around the globe.

But I dive in because it seems as if the whole world has suddenly fallen into a frenzy to murder Irish children. I’ll say it again, just so we’re clear: the calls for legalisation of abortion in Ireland, always carefully framed in the media and parliaments as a matter of “women’s rights,” is a call for the unrestricted slaughter of innocent children.

Having got the basic facts of the argument clear, perhaps we can look at the details. We know that a young mother died on October 28th in University Hospital, Galway after she came in presenting symptoms of miscarriage. The hospital has said she died a few days later of septicaemia. At some point, exactly when is unclear, the woman’s husband went to the press, or perhaps the abortion lobbyists, and said that the hospital and the country’s laws, “Catholic ethos” and medical antipathy towards abortion caused his wife’s death.

All else after that is carefully couched around in journalistic disclaimers like “reportedly” and “…he alleged.” Meanwhile, the bereaved husband, in-laws and parents of the young mother have retreated to India and are demanding that Ireland liberalise its abortion laws. This demand is being joined by the Indian Ambassador to Ireland, the legalisation-pushers in Ireland’s parliament, the secular media and professional abortion lobbyists, as well as, perhaps most strangely, the official opposition party of India, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

This despite the fact – as has been pointed out several times in editorials, press releases, blog posts and hundreds of comments boxes both Catholic and non-Catholic – that abortion is not a medical treatment for either miscarriage or for severe systemic infections and no one has any idea whether Savita Halappanavar really wanted an abortion, or whether “early induction” of labour would have saved her life.

Indeed, one doctor in India has pointed out that abortion in such a case would probably have only hastened Savita’s death. Gynaecologist Hema Divakar, resident-elect of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), has told The Hindu, “Based on information in the media, in that situation of septicaemia, if the doctors had meddled with the live baby, Savita would have died two days earlier.”

In response to the media frenzy the Irish government has launched an investigation –  giving the family first say as to what is and is not investigated and made public – and has said that nothing will be decided until the full facts of the case have been made clear. Galway University Hospital is already conducting an internal investigation and the Health Service Executive’s investigation will be joined by an independent external expert in obstetrics and gynaeocology.

So far the story makes a modicum of sense, but quite a bit of the rest of it does not add up.

Ireland’s Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly, has said he is in possession of facts that cannot at this time be revealed, but that he has no evidence that the “Catholic ethos” of Ireland or the hospital prevented Savita from receiving proper medical treatment.

Even pro-life advocates have pointed out that the current law and medical guidance include the possibility of abortion in the “rare” cases where the woman’s life may be endangered. The University Hospital would certainly have known this, it being the standard of gynecological care throughout the country. Indeed, I was told today by a reliable Irish source that on the gynecological staff at that hospital is at least one “rabid” pro-abortion doctor who would certainly have made sure that this would have happened had it been medically possible. Eilís Mulroy has written in The Irish Independent, under the headline “Pro-choice side must not hijack this terrible event”, asking, “Was Ms Halappanavar treated in line with existing obstetrical practice in Ireland?

In light of these facts, it seems extremely unlikely, except perhaps in the dreams of rabid anti-Catholics, that the doctors at the hospital would have simply said, “This is a Catholic country, we don’t do that here.”

I also hope I am not the only one wondering why the Indian Ambassador to Ireland has decided to weigh in, adding his voice to the pressure of the abortion lobby/Labour Party/media consortium who have been pressing for years for legalisation. Why is the Indian Ambassador suddenly so interested in Ireland’s abortion laws? Is it really normal practice in modern diplomatic circles to join in partisan demands of a sovereign country to change so fundamental a law?

Mr. Debashish Chakravarti may have revealed more about his own country’s problems than Ireland’s when he issued a statement today claiming, with no more evidence than anyone else has, that Savita Halappanavar “would still be alive if she had been treated in India.” Since when does a diplomatic attaché tell the host country which laws to overturn?

Perhaps someone just forgot to show Mr. Chakravarti the report by the World Health Organisation showing that Ireland, with its abortion restrictions, has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, one that is vastly better than India’s.

How much better? The WHO’s document shows that from data gathered up to 2005, Ireland had one maternal death. Yes, one. India had 450 per 100,000 live births for a total of about 117,000. Under India’s current law allowing abortion virtually on demand, about 11 million children are (officially reported) killed by abortion annually – just under two and half times the entire population of the Irish Republic – and around 20,000 women die of complications related to these legal abortions.

But calm deliberation on medical, legal or demographic facts has never been the M.O. of abortion lobbyists or their supporters in media or parliaments, and the country is in an uproar with the media/abortion lobby demanding legislation, right NOW, to legalise abortion. Pro-life people I’ve spoken to in Ireland fear that the pressure may prove too much for the waffling and half-hearted pro-life Irish politicians.

The Irish Times ran the first piece on the case on Wednesday, written by the daughter of one of Ireland’s leading Trotskyite abortion lobbyists, with the completely unbiased and totally objective headline, “Woman ‘denied a termination’ dies in hospital”. This shot the journalistic pinball around the mainstream media world, bringing predictable headlines from the usual suspects: the Guardian: “Ireland’s abortion ban: a history of obstruction and denial,” the BBC: “Woman dies after abortion request ‘refused’ at Galway hospital,” the Toronto Star: “Senseless death of Irish woman exposes grim reality for women”.

In this atmosphere of impartial objectivity, Indian newspapers are taking up Mr. Chakravarti’s cry, issuing such headlines as, “Ireland murders pregnant Indian dentist” and “Indian woman died pleading, Irish abortion laws denied a termination”. Several Indian television stations are running footage of Savita’s mother saying, “In an attempt to save a four-month-old fetus they killed my… daughter. How is that fair you tell me?” Demonstrations have been organised by India’s main opposition, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party with women carrying placards saying, “Catholic Ireland can’t allow the murder of innocent women”.

Praveen Halappanavar is in India now, also issuing demands that Ireland change its laws. “I have lost my wife, but would like to continue the fight for justice. I will return to Galway and continue the fight. The Indian government should wake up and prevail upon the Irish government to make changes to their law,” he said.

I have several other questions that I imagine will not come up in the medical investigations. For starters: the connections between the Halappanavar family and the abortion lobbyists and the rabidly pro-abortion media remain unclear. How exactly did the Irish Times become aware of the case? They quote Praveen Halappanavar extensively, but did he contact them or did he speak to someone in the abortion lobby first?

Because a leaked e-mail obtained by pro-life activists makes it clear that the Irish Choice Network knew the story was going to come to light by November 11th. Who tipped them off in time to organize their “spontaneous” demonstration outside the Dail on Wednesday? Finally, does anyone else wonder and marvel at the fact that this story “broke” on the day that the long-awaited report from the government’s Expert Group on Ireland’s abortion law was released (but still not published)?
Of course, the whole world, competing with each other to show how deeply they care about the tragic death of a beautiful young woman by calling as loudly as possible for the legalization of the killing of Ireland’s unborn children, are going to pour into our own commboxes demanding to know how I can be so callous and unfeeling. All I can say is, it’s a sort of tick of mine to use my brain, especially when stories don’t add up.

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