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Emma Watson pens heartfelt letter in honour of Savita Halappanavar

Actor and activist Emma Watson has penned a heart-felt tribute to Savita Halappanavar ahead of th...
Newstalk
Newstalk

10.22 1 Oct 2018


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Emma Watson pens heartfelt let...

Emma Watson pens heartfelt letter in honour of Savita Halappanavar

Newstalk
Newstalk

10.22 1 Oct 2018


Share this article


Actor and activist Emma Watson has penned a heart-felt tribute to Savita Halappanavar ahead of the sixth anniversary of her passing.

Dr Halappanavar’s tragic death on 28th October 2012 is widely seen as one of the catalysts for the historic repeal of the Eight Amendment earlier this year.

The 31-year-old dentist died at University Hospital Galway from sepsis while she was suffering a miscarriage.

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Ms Watson, who has advocated on a range of issues from violence against women to reproductive rights to global sustainability, was asked by fashion magazine Porter to pen a letter in honour of Dr Halappanavar.

Opening her letter, she notes: “You didn’t want to become the face of a movement; you wanted a procedure that would have saved your life.”

“Time and again, when our local and global communities collectively mourn a tragic death due to social injustice, we pay tribute, mobilize and proclaim: rest in power,” she wrote.

“A promise to the departed and a rallying call to society, we chant: never again.

“But it is rare that justice truly prevails for those whose deaths come to symbolize structural inequality.

“Rarer still is a historic feminist victory that emboldens the fight for reproductive justice everywhere.”

File photo of protestors holding up pictures of Savita Halappanavar outside Leinster House in Dublin, 21-11-2012. Image: Julien Behal/PA Archive/PA Images

Passion

The 28-year-old actress also paid tribute to Dr Halappanavar’s “passionate and vivacious” character and praised her family and friends for the role they played in the Repeal campaign.

“That the eighth amendment enabled valuing the life of an unborn fetus over a living woman was a wake-up call to a nation,” she said.

“From Argentina to Poland, restrictive abortion laws punish and endanger girls, women and pregnant people.

“Still, Northern Ireland’s abortion law predates the lightbulb.

“In your memory, and towards our liberation, we continue the fight for reproductive justice.”

Death

An Investigation into Dr Halappanavar’s death found that the Eighth Amendment and laws around abortion played a role after her request for an abortion was denied.

The report stated: "The investigation team is satisfied that concerns about the law, whether clear or not, impacted on the exercise of clinical professional judgement." 

You can read the letter in full below:

Dear Dr Savita Halappanavar,

You didn’t want to become the face of a movement; you wanted a procedure that would have saved your life. When news of your death broke in 2012, the urgent call to action from Irish activists reverberated around the world – repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution. Time and again, when our local and global communities collectively mourn a tragic death due to social injustice, we pay tribute, mobilize and proclaim: rest in power. A promise to the departed and a rallying call to society, we chant: never again. But it is rare that justice truly prevails for those whose deaths come to symbolize structural inequality. Rarer still is a historic feminist victory that emboldens the fight for reproductive justice everywhere.

Your family and friends were gracious and galvanizing in their sharing of your memory. They told us you were passionate and vivacious, a natural-born leader. I heard that at Diwali in 2010 you won dancer of the night, going on to choreograph routines with children in your community. I watch the video of you dancing in Galway’s 2011 St Patrick’s Day parade and am moved to tears by your thousand-watt smile and palpable enthusiasm. Sharing their mourning and hope with the world, your family publicly supported the Together for Yes campaign. Celebrating repeal, your father expressed his “gratitude to the people of Ireland”. In reciprocity, I heard Ireland’s ‘repealers’ say that they owe your family a great debt.

A note on your memorial in Dublin read, “Because you slept, many of us woke.” That the eighth amendment enabled valuing the life of an unborn fetus over a living woman was a wake-up call to a nation. For you, and those forced to travel to the UK to access safe, legal abortion, justice was hard-won. From Argentina to Poland, restrictive abortion laws punish and endanger girls, women and pregnant people. Still, Northern Ireland’s abortion law predates the lightbulb. In your memory, and towards our liberation, we continue the fight for reproductive justice.

With all my love and solidarity,

Emma Watson


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