![\"Memorial](\"https:\/\/img.buzzfeed.com\/buzzfeed-static\/static\/2018-05\/26\/5\/asset\/buzzfeed-prod-web-02\/sub-buzz-13994-1527325236-1.jpg?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto&downsize=360:*\")
Memorial in Dublin to Savita Halappanavar, who died from a septic miscarriage because doctors refused to perform an abortion. Photo: Buzzfeed.<\/p><\/div>\n
Pro-choice activists have written widely about the <\/span>dangers<\/span><\/a> that will befall American women if the Supreme Court overturns <\/span>Roe v. Wade<\/span><\/i>. Still, these stories sound melodramatic to many anti-abortion activists. Like anti-vaxxers who have never seen polio, most opponents of abortion have never seen women suffer the agony of carrying an unwanted fetus, and believe these horrors to be the province of \u201cthird-world\u201d countries. The example of Ireland is difficult to ignore, however, because the country is western, wealthy, and highly developed. Proponents of fetal-heartbeat laws such as the measure in Alabama that a <\/span>federal judge blocked <\/span><\/a>on October 29th, which made abortion a class A felony punishable by life imprisonment, should learn from Ireland\u2019s experiences so the ranks of our obituary pages don\u2019t swell with American Savitas.<\/span><\/p>\n Alabama\u2019s law refuses exceptions in cases of rape and incest, and here, too, legislators can learn from Ireland. In 1992, in the X Case, Irish courts attempted to block a 14-year-old rape victim from leaving the country for an abortion. The girl was suicidal because of the rape and psychological trauma of pregnancy. After initial rulings that the child would be forced to carry the pregnancy to term, protestors held signs that declared \u201cIreland Defends Men\u2019s Right to Procreate by Rape.\u201d In the end, Ireland\u2019s Supreme Court ruled that X could obtain an abortion because her life was at risk. The original actions of the Irish government in X\u2019s case, like Governor Kay Ivey\u2019s <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> that the Alabama law is a \u201cpowerful testament to Alabamians\u2019 deeply held belief that every life is…a sacred gift from God\u201d are nakedly hypocritical: they demonstrate a clear preference for the life of the fetus over the mental and physical well-being of women.<\/span><\/p>\n Savita and X were paradigm-changing cases in Ireland because both figures were innocent victims who could not be written off as \u201csluts\u201d who sought abortions in order to avoid taking responsibility for their \u201csins.\u201d Savita was a married woman; X was a child who was victimized by a predator. Both Savita and X represented the familial nation in crisis: their families were at risk not because of abortion, but because they could not access one.<\/span><\/p>\n Ireland has learned from its past and the government has put the nation on a cultural and legal path toward fully valuing women in society. Also on October 29th, the Irish government welcomed the <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> of the Working Group on Access to Contraception, which endorsed the provision of free contraception, including long-term methods such as intra-uterine devices and implants. Guaranteed access to contraception and sex education will prevent more cases like these two tragedies–and minimize abortion rates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yet Alabama fails on this measure, too. The state does not require sex education in schools, and schools that do offer sex ed endorse abstinence over information. It is unsurprising, then, that the state has some of the <\/span>highest teen-pregnancy rates<\/span><\/a> in the country. It is misogynistic to refuse to provide information on sexuality and contraception, and then force women to bear the burden of an unwanted pregnancy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n