Dr Katherine Astbury says there was a small prospect the foetus would survive when Savita Halappanavar became ill

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

A consultant obstetrician in an Irish hospital where an Indian woman died after being denied an abortion has told her inquest that she felt constrained by the republic's strict anti-abortion laws.

Dr Katherine Astbury said she believed there was still "a small prospect the foetus would be viable" on 22 October last year when Savita Halappanavar became ill.

Astbury told the inquest in Galway courthouse into the death of the Indian dentist that "law does not permit termination even if there is no prospect of viability of foetus".

She denied claims by Savita Halappanavar's husband, Praveen, that medical staff told the couple they could not carry out a termination of her 17-week pregnancy because Ireland was a Catholic country.

Asked about the phrase which has become attached to the controversy since Savita Halappanavar died in Galway University hospital, Astbury told the coroner, Dr Ciaran McLoughlin, that such language would have been uncaring, insensitive and wrong.

Pressed about her decision to refuse the Halappanavars' request for an emergency termination, Astbury said that under Irish law there had to be a "real and substantial risk" to the life of the patient before this could happen.

She said that at the time of the request, Savita Halappanavar was well and a termination was not permitted because of a diagnosis of poor foetal prognosis.

Earlier, lawyers for Galway University hospital denied tampering or interfering with the medical records of Savita Halappanavar. The inquest in Galway city continues.

The death of the 31-year-old Indian woman provoked protests in Ireland, India and across the world against the republic's strict laws on abortion. The case has also piled further pressure on the Fine Gael-Labour coalition to reform abortion law and allow for terminations in Irish hospitals when a woman's life is at risk.