Rónán Mullen under fire over ‘appalling’ remark about Savita
SENATOR Rónán Mullen was criticised yesterday for ‘disgraceful’ comments he made about the circumstances surrounding the death of Savita Halappanavar.
The Independent senator claimed that Ms Halappanavar would have asked for an abortion before getting into medical difficulty had it been available in Ireland at the time of her death.
Ms Halappanavar, 31, died at Galway University Hospital in October 2012. At the 17-week stage in her pregnancy she had presented with back pain and it was discovered she was having a miscarriage. Her requests for a termination were denied because there was a foetal heartbeat, even though the pregnancy was not viable, and she died of multiple organ failure and septic shock.
Consultant obstetrician Peter Boylan has said that if Ms Halappanavar had been allowed a termination when she asked for it she would be alive today.
In response to this, Senator Mullen said: ‘If there was abortion on demand, she wouldn’t have been in the hospital, because she wouldn’t have been pregnant and she wouldn’t have been having a miscarriage.’
The comments were heavily criticised by Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell, who said they were hugely disrespectful to Ms Halappanavar and her family.
She said: ‘To suggest that if there was abortion on demand that Savita Halappanavar would never had ended up at the stage where she was mid-way through her pregnancy, is just very disrespectful to the late woman, to her husband who’s still alive and to a couple that to the best of my knowledge were expecting a very much-wanted child.
‘The situation emerged where she asked for a termination, because my belief is she knew what was coming down the road, she had medical experience.’
She accused Senator Mullen of misrepresenting the case to ‘suit your own preconceived notions’.
‘You came into the committee with your entrenched views and you have failed to let yourself be exposed to the realities of what’s facing women and families in this country’ she said.
Senator Mullen was facing multiple demands to apologise to Ms Halappanavar’s family last night over the comments.
Social Democrats leader Catherine Murphy, also a member of the committee, told the Irish Daily Mail it was ‘beyond outrageous to suggest that of Savita’.
She added: ‘Both herself and (husband) Praveen had made it clear this was very much a wanted pregnancy, but one that had tragically gone wrong. Dr Boylan made it clear at the committee yesterday that Savita died because of the Eighth Amendment.
‘He [Senator Mullen] has to remember as well that Savita can’t speak for herself.
‘Statements like this are an insult to her whole family. Senator Mullen needs to pull himself back from making such disgraceful comments about people who are very well regarded in our society.’
Amnesty Ireland CEO Colm O’Gorman said the senator’s claim was ‘reprehensible stuff’.
‘Her pregnancy was a much wanted one. He baldly stated that if “abortion on demand” was available she wouldn’t have been pregnant. Such lazy, ignorant language is appalling,’ he tweeted.
Mr O’Gorman said he was ‘not shocked by this given his callousness to bereaved families in FFA (fatal foetal abnormality) cases’, and that the ‘shocking disregard for Savita’s family is disgusting’.
People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith called the comments ‘the very definition of ignorance’.
‘The very definition of ignorance’