35,000 March in Dublin Against Irish Abortion Bill
DUBLIN (AP) — Bearing rosary beads
and placards declaring "Kill the bill! Not the child," more
than 35,000 anti-abortion activists marched Saturday through Dublin
to demand that the Irish government scrap plans to legalize
terminations for women in life-threatening pregnancies.
Demonstrators from across Ireland, a
predominantly Catholic island of 6.5 million, marched for two hours
through the capital to Leinster House, the parliament building, where
lawmakers next week are expected pass the Protection of Life During
Pregnancy Bill. Speakers demanded that the government put its bill to
a national referendum. "Let us vote!" the crowd chanted.
The two-year-old coalition government
of Prime Minister Enda Kenny drafted the bill following last year's
death of a miscarrying woman in an Irish hospital. Three
investigations since have determined that Savita Halappanavar, a
31-year-old Indian dentist, died from blood poisoning one week after
admission for a miscarriage. Doctors denied her pleas for an
abortion, even though her uterus had ruptured, because the
17-week-old fetus still had a heartbeat. By the time it stopped,
investigations concluded, Halappanavar already had contracted a
lethal dose of septicemia.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter said
Saturday that, had the bill been law last year, Halappanavar might
have received a prompt abortion and survived. He appealed to
anti-abortion rebels in the main government Fine Gael party to accept
the bill or abstain from the final vote expected Wednesday night. The
bill received overwhelming backing in an initial vote this week.
