Women in the world's spotlight 2012 (4)

Savita Halappanavar, a Hindu of Indian origin, was suffering from a miscarriage when she was some 17 weeks pregnant, and she sought medical attention and treatment at University Hospital Galway. Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, said that the hospital told them the foetus was not viable, but they could not perform an abortion under Irish Law as the foetus heart was still beating. During the next several days, Halappanavar was diagnosed with septicemia which lead to multiple organ failure and her death. Once the events became public, the news of Halappanavar's death spread rapidly and quickly through both traditional and social media outlets, with one of the original stories in The Irish Times on Nov.14 receiving over 700,000 hits by Nov.17.(Globaltimes.cn)