Irish abortion laws are coming under intense scrutiny in the European Parliament. 

The recent death of Savita Halappanavar has sparked outrage among some MEPs who say it is unacceptable that Ireland does not provide a termination in cases where the life of the mother is at risk. 

53 MEPs have signed a letter addressed to the Taoiseach Enda Kenny calling on the Irish government to change its abortion legislation. 

MEP slams "inhuman" Irish law

One signatory is the Swedish MEP Cecilia Wikstrom who is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the  European Parliament. 

She says people in Sweden have been appalled at stories of Irish women being denied abortions.

"There was a couple in a Swedish television programme that told us the story that the child had severe problems, and wouldn"t survive anyway - and they wanted an abortion" she said 

"They couldn"t get that in Ireland and they traveled to Great Britain and they finally had the abortion".

"But the woman"s face when she told us the story - that she left her child, the foetus, in England and then she had to fly back to Ireland and pretend as if nothing actually happened".

"To me, this is very inhuman" he added.