Ireland’s near-total ban on abortion has come under renewed scrutiny amid an outcry over the death of a woman who was denied a termination.

Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist, died of blood poisoning at Galway University hospital. She had turned up at the hospital a week earlier, but was denied a medical termination and, according to her husband, was told: “This is a Catholic country.”

The death intensified pressure on Ireland’s Fine Gael-Labour coalition to legislate and create specific guidelines for medical staff on when abortions can be carried out. At present, abortions are permitted only if there is a “real and substantive” threat to a woman’s life.

By coincidence, the Irish health minister, James Reilly, received an expert report on abortion guidelines yesterday. Enda Kenny, the Irish premier, said the two events should be separated. But Ruth Bowie from the group Terminations For Medical Reasons Ireland challenged Reilly to publish the report’s findings.

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