PRAVEEN HALAPPANAVAR, THE husband of Savita Halappanavar, who passed away in October following a miscarriage, spoke about his experience tonight.

Speaking to Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ‘s Prime Time, he said that his wife kept asking “Why me?” when told that she was having a miscarriage at 17-weeks into her pregnancy. He said her heart was broken and she couldn’t believe what was happening to her.

He said she told her doctors she could not take the situation and wanted a termination. He said the doctor told his wife that unfortunately the foetus is still viable and “you know it’s a Catholic country and we won’t be able to terminate” the pregnancy. He said that Savita said she was not a Catholic or Irish, “so why impose the law on her”.

Praveen said the hospital support staff were amazing and they did everything they could. He said that he felt that everything was numb when his wife died. “It was the end of the world,” he said. “She wanted to live, have babies… I still can’t believe that she’s not with us.”

Regarding the fact that Savita was not allowed to have a termination, he said “we just can’t believe that in the 21st century something like this would happen”.

Praveen Halappanavar is requesting a public inquiry funded by the government and said that after seeing how his wife was treated, he has “no confidence that the HSE will do justice” to the investigation into her death. He said he does not want to be involved in the investigation or meet the chair of the investigation team.

He said he and his wife loved Ireland and he thanked people here and those across the world for the support they have shown.

This evening, hundreds of people gathered outside Leinster House calling for the Government to legislate for the X Case following the death of Savita Halappanavar.