Ireland death: Indian Christian forum clarifies stand

November 20, 2012: In India, the National United Christian Forum (NUCF) comprising members of all Christian denominations has asked all concerned to stop making the death of an Indian woman in Ireland a Church-versus-state issue.

This is the first time since Savita Halappanavar died last month that a forum, comprising leaders from all the major churches in India, has issued a statement in this regard.

Issued by Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi, president of NUCF, Bishop Taranath Sagar of National Council of Churches in India and Reverend Atul Aghamkar of Evngelical Fellowship of India, the statement said that all should focus on the lessons learnt from this tragedy.

“The Christian stance is that an abortion can never be done because it means the death of a defenseless, feeble life in the womb. But another medical procedure can be performed as long as the intention is to save the mother's life, even if the procedure may end the life of the child. The death of the child is foreseen but not willed,” it said.

The church leaders said that let the tragedy be a catalyst for change in India. “Let the tragic incident of Halappanavar remind us that in our country, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, every five minutes a woman dies while delivering a child,” they said.

The statement said that a staggering 20 per cent of such worldwide deaths occur in India. According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Health, most such deaths are avoidable. A casual attitude towards abortion is an additional reason for the total imbalance in the number of girls against boys in our country. The Church also called upon all political leaders to refrain from making loose remarks against any community, in an effort to derive political mileage.

Meanwhile responding to the “devastating personal tragedy” of Savita Halappanavar’s death, Ireland’s Catholic bishops have issued a statement confirming that Church teaching did not prevent medical treatment in her case.

“The Catholic Church has never taught that the life of a child in the womb should be preferred to that of a mother,” the bishops’ statement said. The statement observed while intentional abortion is immoral, a medical treatment that is necessary to save the mother’s life is justified, even if the baby’s death is an unintended consequence. The bishops also noted that Irish law allows for such treatment.

In a related development, the Irish Independent disclosed that pro-abortion activists were informed about the death of Savita Halappanavar three days before it became public knowledge, and used that time to plan a campaign to exploit the tragedy.