Protests held in Bangalore on second death anniversary of Savita Halappanavar

Bangalore: Scores of protesters took to the streets in Bangalore to mark the second death anniversary of Savita Halappanavar, who was denied an abortion in Ireland in 2012.

Gathering in the city on Tuesday, the protesters demanded a revision of the eighth amendment of Ireland's Constitution on abortion laws.

Savita Halappanavar, 31, died in Ireland two years back after she was denied termination of the foetus. She developed complications and had to be admitted to the University Hospital Galway in the west of Ireland, where she subsequently died.

Showing solidarity with women like Halappanavar, protesters carried placards reading slogans of appeal to the government of Ireland and said that a referendum will be held during spring in Ireland to demand the abortion laws to be revised.

"Today, there is a very big demand for the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution to be repealed and the Rosa which is leading this campaign is putting forward a demand for a referendum which should be held in 2015 spring in Ireland," said a protester, Jagadish Chandra.

Ireland's government had pledged to clarify its abortion laws after the death of Halappanavar.

Despite a dramatic waning of the influence of the Catholic Church, which dominated politics in Ireland until the 1980s, successive governments have been loath to legislate on an issue they fear could alienate conservative voters.

Meanwhile, protesters said every country must respect the human rights, which are above all religions.

"We stand with her in her memory and we want to make sure every single country, every single republic respects the rights of the human being above that of religion or any superstition or any other belief. We hope that the eighth amendment will be repealed at the earliest in Ireland," said another protester Navina.

The Indian couple was living and working in Ireland. Halappanavar's husband was serving as an engineer while she was a dentist.

Abortion remains an extremely divisive issue in Ireland, an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, which has some of the world's most restrictive laws on medical terminations.

In the absence of legislation, Irish women are forced to go abroad to terminate their pregnancies, an option not open to seriously ill mothers