Culture / Unlike The US, India’s Top Court Recognizes Abortion As A Human Right For All Women

Unlike The US, India’s Top Court Recognizes Abortion As A Human Right For All Women

Culture Sep 30, 2022

by Hina P. Ansari

India expands their abortion accessibility to all women regardless of marital status. For the first time since it has been legalized in 1971.

What may be seen as a signal to the United States, India’s Supreme Court has decidedly made their own mark when it comes to their country’s abortion issue. The recent ruling has declared that abortion care access deemed a human right to any woman regardless of marital status up until the 24th week of pregnancy.

Unlike The US, India's Top Court Actually Understands That Abortion Is A Human Right: Abortion access has now been expanded to all women regardless of marital status. Photo Credit: www.unsplash.com — **Unlike The US, India’s Top Court Actually Understands That Abortion Is A Human Right: Protests across America after the Supreme Court Of the United States bans abortion.** Photo Credit: www.unsplash.com

The remarkable ruling grabbed headlines all over the world, especially with the United States Supreme Court’s declaration that abortion isn’t a constitutional right by striking down Roe v Wade. This takedown than eliminated this as a federal issue and deferred it to the states, giving each state an option of legalizing or banning it. As a result the more conservative states have already implemented various levels of bans from outright to first few weeks of conception, often when the woman may not even know she is pregnant.

“If Rule 3B(c) is understood as only for married women, it would perpetuate the stereotype that only married women indulge in sexual activities. This is not constitutionally sustainable. The artificial distinction between married and unmarried women cannot be sustained. Women must have autonomy to have free exercise of these rights”, said Justice Chandrachud, the presiding judge of the bench, reading out the judgment.

“Now, all the rights that married women have, single women will also have,” said Aparna Chandra, an associate professor of law at the National Law School of India, who works on reproductive justice. In its judgment, the court “breaks away from the stigma that is attached to single women getting pregnant,” she said.

Unlike The US, India's Top Court Actually Understands That Abortion Is A Human Right — **Unlike The US, India’s Top Court Actually Understands That Abortion Is A Human Right: Abortion access has now been expanded to all women regardless of marital status.** Photo Credit: www.unsplash.com

Abortion has been legal in India since 1971 under the Medical Termination Pregnancy Act. In 2021 the rights to abortion care was expanded from married women to those who are widowed, divorced and mentally ill, expanding it from the previous 20 weeks to 24 weeks.

However in July of 2022, a single woman was denied an abortion by a lower court, as she was past the 20 week limit. The Supreme Court took that case and noted that she should also have the same rights as her married counterparts. Therefore making her abortion legal for her and for all single woman in India while adding 4 extra weeks to the limit.

In addition to this ruling, India’s highest court in the land also ruled that gender-based rape during a marriage is also a criminal offense, adding another one in the win column for Indian women who have suffered from this culturally induced sexual assault, which has often been accepted as fate for women for decades upon decades.

Main Image Photo Credit: www.coinmod.com (The Supreme Court of India)

Hina P. Ansari

Author

Hina P. Ansari is a graduate from The University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario). Since then she has carved a successful career in Canada's national fashion-publishing world as the Entertainment/Photo Editor at FLARE Magazine, Canada's national fashion magazine. She was the first South Asian in...

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Unlike The US, India’s Top Court Recognizes Abortion As A Human Right For All Women

by Hina P. Ansari

Hina P. Ansari

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