Former president of Ireland, Dr Mary McAleese, has said she believes the Catholic Church “has got to take a lot of responsibility” for the death of Savita Halappanavar.
Speaking about the Indian dentist, who died in 2012 from sepsis after being refused an abortion when she was 17 weeks’ pregnant, Dr McAleese admitted that she had previously thought that Ireland’s constitutional right to life of the unborn was “a good thing”.
But “when confronted with it in that situation and seeing the consequence – the dead girl and the dead child, I have to say we got that so badly wrong”.
She termed the tragedy as “a dreadful case” at a press conference in Rome at the close of the Spirit Unbounded lay-led assembly of catholic reform groups.
“I’d like to think that when the people of Ireland overwhelmingly changed that law, [Repeal of the Eighth Amendment] they were saying we’re so sorry to her [Savita] and to her family – we got that wrong,” she said.
The former head of state revealed that she knew the “wonderful young dentist”.
“A lovely young married girl whom I knew. She was a young dentist, the same age as my daughter who is also a young dentist. They knew each other,” she said.
She said Ms Halappanavar was “delighted” to be pregnant with her first baby.
A termination “was not what she wanted, but she did want to live – and she wanted to live to bear another live child.
This child had no hope at 17 weeks. She was told that because it had a heartbeat, they could not abort the baby.”
Both mother and child had died “as a direct result of that ridiculous situation”.
Referring to the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion, outlined in the 1930 document Casti Connubii, she said it taught that “when a woman gets pregnant, regrettably, no matter what, she has a duty to give birth.
"That duty means that if her life is endangered and an abortion would save her life – our church teaches, that is not possible.”
She said the teaching had developed over time the principle of double effect, which entitles the woman to treatment for conditions such as cancer of the womb or ectopic pregnancy provided the treatment is directed towards her condition and not directly to the foetus.
She admitted that abortion was something she “struggled with for a very long time”.
“This is an issue that really in some ways defines our time. There are whole swathes of catholics who have made this the only issue that apparently identifies them or anybody as catholic and that’s a pity I think,” she said.
Separately, the professor of law, warned that the “Church is going to be caught out” by the “new emerging reality” of men who are priests and transition to become female.
Speaking about the Church’s ban on women priests, she said, “Canon law is very clear that you can’t ordain women. I don’t know what is going to happen when the first ordained priest goes trans.”