Irland has Performed it's first ever Legal Abortion and it saved a Dying Woman's Life

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http://www.nationofchange.org/ireland-has-performed-its-first-ever-legal-abortion-and-it-saved-dying-woman-s-life-1377325072

The first legal abortion in an Irish hospital has been carried out in Dublin, the Irish Times confirmed on Friday. It represents the first pregnancy termination under Ireland’s historic new abortion law, which slightly relaxed the country’s total ban to allow for legal abortions in cases when it’s necessary to preserve a woman’s life.

Before Ireland’s prime minister approved the new law in July, the country’s abortion laws had not been updated since 1867. Now, there are 25 Irish hospitals that are authorized to perform legal abortions in life-threatening cases without worrying about legal repercussions.

The National Maternity Hospital in Dublin carried out the pregnancy termination for a dying woman whose membrane had ruptured for more than 24 hours. She ran a high risk of sepsis, and her 18-week twin fetuses had no chance of survival outside of the womb. Doctors said her case bore many similarities to that of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old woman who died after being denied an emergency abortion in an Irish Catholic hospital last year. Halappanavar developed sepsis after she began to miscarry, but doctors wouldn’t terminate her doomed pregnancy until the fetal heartbeat had officially stopped three days later — and by that time, it was too late.

The Irish Times reports that in contrast to Halappanavar, the woman who received a legal abortion this month “has made a good recovery after receiving antibiotic treatment and undergoing the termination a number of weeks ago.”

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Though there's an update at the Irish Times:

Update: Since the original publication of this article, the Department of Health has confirmed that the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act, signed into law by the President on July 30th, 2013, has not yet commenced. Therefore, the statements below that a termination was carried out under the provisions of new abortion legislation and that it was performed under section 7 of the Act are incorrect.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/first-abortion-carried-out-under-new-legislation-1.1502946