“Abortion Support Network issues grants to Irish women seeking terminations and provides confidential, non-judgemental support, information and even accommodation in volunteers’ homes. While this work practically helping people in need should be applauded, it shouldn’t be necessary. Let’s hope some good comes out of the tragedy of Savita Halappanavar’s death and Ireland’s outdated abortion laws…

“If Savita’s family hadn’t bravely made the decision to go public, would her senseless death have come to light? Have the lives of more women been sacrificed because a fetus was deemed more important? Even when it was known that the fetus would not survive? When, technically in Ireland an abortion is permitted if there…

“The vast majority of women who need abortions –- women who’ve been raped, couples whose wanted pregnancies have catastrophic foetal anomalies, women and couples who simply can’t afford a child, or, in most cases, another child –- will still have to travel and pay privately for abortions,” Mara Clarke said.

This figure is disputed – the most widely-cited figure is 4,000 but it could be much higher. One charity, the Abortion Support Network, gives needy women grants of between £20 and £700 pounds to travel to Britain from the Republic of Ireland, where Savita died, and from neighbouring Northern Ireland, which is a British province.…

Help Irish women now: Every year thousands of Irish women travel to the UK for abortion care. Between travel, accommodations, lost wages and childcare, the expense can be prohibitive. The Abortion Support Network offers help with funding, information, and a place to stay. Honor Savita’s memory by donating what you can.

As campaigners prepared to gather in central Dublin on Saturday for a rally to protest against the death of an Indian woman who was refused a potentially life-saving termination in an Irish hospital, the Abortion Support Network (ASN) gave an insight into the pressures facing women with unwanted pregnancies.

“For all we know, there may well have been other cases like that of Savita’s, whose family have been so brave in coming forward,” said Anne Quesney of ASN.

“Our heart really goes out to the Halappanavar family for their tragic loss because, if reports are true, it was entirely preventable,” said ASN’s director, Mara Clarke. “We are really hoping that the public outpouring around this case will result in a much-needed change in the law in Ireland. We would like nothing more than…