FACT CHECK:
ABORTION IN IRELAND

1 | Delay or refusal to terminate the pregnancy was not the cause of death for Dr. Savita.

Dr. Sam Coulter-Smith, master of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin has stated, "This case probably does not have a lot to do with abortion laws". - Belfast Telegraph

Dr. Hema Divakar, President-elect of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, stated the following regarding her assessment of Dr. Savita's cause of death:

"Delay or refusal to terminate the pregnancy does not in itself seem to be the cause of death. Even if the law permitted it, it is not as if her life would have been saved because of termination," she said.

"Severe septicaemia with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a life-threatening bleeding disorder which is a complication of sepsis, major organ damage and loss of the mother's blood due to severe infection, is the cause of death in Savita's case. This is what seems to have happened and this is a sequence which cannot be reversed just by terminating the pregnancy."

The Hindu Times

Dr. Savita died of scepticaemia, and termination of pregnancy is not a treatment for scepticaemia.

2 | Abortion activists were tipped-off to give them time to coordinate a media strategy to exploit Dr. Savita's death before the media published the story.

Published emails show that abortion activists and political operatives were given notice of a looming big story on Dr. Savita's death at least three days before the publication of the story.

The abortion activists held a strategy meeting days before the original story broke.

The writer of this story was Kitty Holland, daughter of two noted abortion activists. Without any public information available about the cause of Dr. Savita's death other than that provided by her husband, the headline of Holland's Irish Times story would breathlessly proclaim "Woman 'denied a termination' dies in hospital".

The tone of the story overwhelmingly suggested that a denial of abortion was the cause of Dr. Savita's death. Holland would state in a later story that, "Whether the fact that Savita had been refused a termination was a factor in her death has yet to be established."

3 | Existing Irish medical guidelines are clear that intervention may be necessary in cases like Dr. Savita's.

Medical guidelines currently in place clearly state that intervention, including termination of pregnancy, may be proper in exceptional cases like Dr. Savita's:

"In current obstetrical practice, rare complications can arise where therapeutic intervention (including termination of a pregnancy) is required at a stage when, due to extreme immaturity of the baby, there may be little or no hope of the baby surviving. In these exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to intervene to terminate the pregnancy to protect the life of the mother, while making every effort to preserve the life of the baby."

Source: Medical Council Guide for Registered Medical Practitioners, Section 21.4

4 | There is no evidence of an ethos among the doctors that treated Dr. Savita, or those anywhere in Ireland, that would have prevented her life from being saved.

Irish law and medical guidelines allow for life-saving treatment for the mother in cases like Dr. Savita's, but Irish doctors in this case and generally also recognize this principle.

Dr. Sam Coulter-Smith, master of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin said:

"I think most of us who work in obstetrics and gynaecology, there may be individual differences, but the majority would be of the view that if the health is such a risk that there is a risk of death and we are dealing with a foetus that is not viable, there is only one answer to that question, we bring the pregnancy to an end."

5 | Maternal Mortality Rates are Lower in Pro-Life Ireland than countries with liberal abortion laws like India, the U.K., and the United States.

Many abortion advocates have argued that Ireland's "pro-life" laws or Catholic culture have made Ireland unsafe for mothers.

In reality, according to a 2009 UNICEF report, Ireland is the safest place to have a baby in the world. - BBC News

Ireland's maternal mortality rate is lower than India, the U.K., and the U.S.

In fact here's how India, the U.K. and the U.S. compare:

• India - Maternal Mortality Rate is 33x higher than in Ireland
• Britain - Maternal Mortality Rate is 2x higher than in Ireland
• United States - Maternal Mortality Rate is 3.5x higher than in Ireland

Source: World Heath Organization (WHO)

6 | Pro-life nations like Ireland, Poland, and Chile are models for maternal health.

Pro-life Chile has the lowest maternal mortality rate in Latin America. Pro-life Poland is among the top ten nations for lowest rate of maternal mortality in the world. - CIA World Factbook

A major recent study from Pro-Life Chile is the latest confirmation that legal abortion does not reduce maternal mortality.
- PLOS One Journal