Irish cabinet to discuss abortion report

The Irish cabinet is expected to take up will take up the report of the expert group on abortion to Cabinet on Tuesday.

The Irish Times said the country´s health minister James Reilly had confirmed this.

"I have read the report and I need to study it further. It's a hugely complex issue that has divided the country . . . and we're not going to solve it in a matter of weeks," Reilly was quoted as saying.

Making it clear hat this was not a decision to be taken hurriedly, he said it could be early 2013 before a government position was made clear.

On the other hand, Praveen Halappanavar, the husband of Savita, who died after being denied an abortion here, said he wanted employees of Galway University Hospital removed from the inquiry established by the the Irish health officials into her death, said The Irish Times.

The probe panel was named in Dublin on Monday.

Praveen said he would request through his solicitor that John J Morrison, Catherine Fleming and Brian Harte be removed from the inquiry.

Savita, a dentist, came on October 21 with back pain at Galway University Hospital where she was found to be miscarrying at 17 weeks.

Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, said she had asked several times over a three-day period that the pregnancy be terminated. This was refused, he says, because the foetal heartbeat was still present and they were told: "This is a Catholic country".

The dead foetus was later removed and Savita was taken to the high dependency unit and then the intensive care unit, where she died of septicaemia on October 28.

Praveen came back to Ireland from India on Sunday.

Asked what he wanted from the inquiry, he said: "The truth to come out. As long as it is a fully independent inquiry so that the truth will come out. It does bother me that there are people from Galway hospital on the inquiry. I would prefer no Galway people on the inquiry. I will basically request that there be no-one from Galway on it."