Interest in Savita Halappanavar’s story won’t wane any time soon - if the trend of vigils cropping up worldwide is anything to go by.

After rallies in the UK and Ireland, New York is the latest in a line of cities where anyone moved by the tragedy of her death has gathered to show solidarity with her family.

“This isn’t just an Irish issue - international awareness exists around this human rights issue,” Max McGuinness, a Dublin-born Columbia University PhD student and one of the two vigil organisers tells The Irish Times.

Surrounded by dozens of like-minded people at a candlelit ceremony on the lawn outside Columbia University’s Barnard College, McGuinness says the goal was also to protest at the circumstances leading up to Ms Halappanavar’s death.

“It seems to be a direct consequence of the failure of consecutive Irish governments since the X case to produce a legal framework that would protect pregnant women’s rights,” McGuinness says.

“A show of global support is vital,” adds Barnard Professor Belinda McKeown, who organised the vigil with McGuinness. “The Irish Government needs to be reminded the world is taking this story seriously, and with the right kind of pressure they may finally act, ” she says, adding how Barnard College, traditionally a female-only campus, was the perfect setting to spotlight women’s rights being undermined by a lack of clarity on abortion in Ireland’s Constitution.