No amount of candle light vigil – the favorite protest / sympathy symbol of the West and now imported into (mostly) metro India– is going to bring Dr. Savita Halappanavar back from the dead.
She said (as reported) [1] “I am neither Irish nor Catholic.” But Ireland is staunchly Catholic. Dr. Savita Halappanavar died a Hindu in a Catholic country. Neither religion saved her. And, people tell me that religion is useful. Bah, humbug!
By the way, did Jesus take a stance against abortion? Maybe yes, maybe no. But, it was the Roman Catholic Church that did the honors – condemned abortion as sin, no matter the situation. But will it now own up to killing Dr. Savita Halappanavar? No chance. You tell me that religion is truthful. Bah, humbug!
Ireland, a deeply Catholic country draws the watershed line: the heart of the fetus is audible – no abortion. If the woman has to die, so be it. Religion imbues life with meaning. Religion is sensitive. Bah humbug!
Maybe the death of Dr. Savita Halappanavar will impel Ireland to be less Roman Catholic. There are movements afoot, but do not count your chickens yet. If you want irony, the eggs may be aborted, given the hold of religion on the government! If indeed the strictures are loosened, that will be a blessing.
One Hindu life for many Catholic lives? That is a good trade-off. Let Dr. Savita Halappanavar’s death be the beacon of light, and life of pregnant women so endangered be saved, at least in Ireland.
Raghuram Ekambaram
References
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/14/ireland-abortion-law-woman-death
She said (as reported) [1] “I am neither Irish nor Catholic.” But Ireland is staunchly Catholic. Dr. Savita Halappanavar died a Hindu in a Catholic country. Neither religion saved her. And, people tell me that religion is useful. Bah, humbug!
By the way, did Jesus take a stance against abortion? Maybe yes, maybe no. But, it was the Roman Catholic Church that did the honors – condemned abortion as sin, no matter the situation. But will it now own up to killing Dr. Savita Halappanavar? No chance. You tell me that religion is truthful. Bah, humbug!
Ireland, a deeply Catholic country draws the watershed line: the heart of the fetus is audible – no abortion. If the woman has to die, so be it. Religion imbues life with meaning. Religion is sensitive. Bah humbug!
Maybe the death of Dr. Savita Halappanavar will impel Ireland to be less Roman Catholic. There are movements afoot, but do not count your chickens yet. If you want irony, the eggs may be aborted, given the hold of religion on the government! If indeed the strictures are loosened, that will be a blessing.
One Hindu life for many Catholic lives? That is a good trade-off. Let Dr. Savita Halappanavar’s death be the beacon of light, and life of pregnant women so endangered be saved, at least in Ireland.
Raghuram Ekambaram
References
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/14/ireland-abortion-law-woman-death
6 comments:
A very uncharacteristically emotional post from you, Raghuram. When I read this report in The Hindu, I was tempted to write a blog lambasting the Church's stand on abortion. But I had to out this morning on an important legal affair (with respect to my land being taken over in Kerala for highway construction) and I've just returned and taken bath. So the post didn't materialise. Then comes your post, much more emotional than I could have ever made it and could have imagined from you (I mean I didn't expect you to be so emotional).
The Catholic Church is a ridiculous establishment. Somebody with the most obscurantist view (a view that should belong to the darkest medieval period) is elected Pope and that idiotic Pope decides the policies of the Church. There are equally idiotic cardinals who will support him. These cardinals deal in money laundering, commit adultery, even kill people... But they know how to keep the laity (the technical term used by them for the aam admi)under control. They do it with the help of laws. Abortion law is just one law....
Matheikal,
I did not see myself as responding emotionally in this post. But, if that is what is conveyed by the tone, so be it. I truly and sincerely thank you for making me understand what I am doing, how I am arguing and what is the tone of my post.
Matheikal, it is not just the Catholic Church. What about the Anglican? The Archbishop wants to take the congregation along out of the "darkest medieval period" and its congregants oppose it, under whose influence? The laws of the Anglican Church, I am sure. This post is against religion, per se. That is precisely why I wrote at the end that a Hindu is sacrificed for the benefit of thousands of Roman Catholics. This inter-faith sacrifice (if that be the right way to say it) leads to dilution of the institution of religion (hoping against hope) I will be glad.
RE
And we talk of the horrors of Hindutava...
any imposition by any religion on any one is bad.
I talk against only religiontva! DS sir ...
My question to you - can there be any religion without imposition - religion, thy name is imposition!
RE
I cant believe that though Irish laws provide for abortion under such circumstances, the doctors refused to do the abortion.
Balu, here I would disagree with you. While the aoth medical professionals take do enjoin them to put the health of their patients ahead of everything else, here the religious and legal injunctions are against "murder", albeit of an unborn "baby". One cannot ask the doctors to go against this. I go deepere than the current arguments on Irish law. I think you have to hit at the base, the Roman Catholic Church. But, one has to remember that it is the same Roamn Catholic Church that validated the secession of Ireland from the UK. So, we are back to square one.
RE
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