Savita’s death is not about abortion — it is about medical negligence

Savita Halappanavar has become an icon. Her death in Galway University Hospital a year ago has taken on mythic qualities.

Kitty Holland’s new book, Savita: The Tragedy That Shook A Nation, gives us pictures of Savita, the child dancer, the proud graduate, the devoted daughter, the loyal friend.

We see Savita’s life through the prism of her death and her death is explained by our Constitutional prohibition on abortion. Even her grieving husband, Praveen, says “maybe Savita was born to change the law here.”