Abortion till date has been one of the most controversial matters in the arena of biomedical ethics. It is a subject that has been heavily discussed around the world and holds extremely divergent opinions as far its legality is concerned. The question surrounding this matter is whether it falls under the purview of the Indian Constitution or has it failed to meet the criteria of being recognised as a fundamental right. In the Indian Penal Code, 1860, abortion, which is stated as Causing Miscarriage is considered as a punitive offence. It pertains to a woman who causes herself to miscarry. Among many other rights that women have been granted in India, Right to Abortion must be given as equal weight as the Right to conceive a child and get pregnant.
The Wikipedia Dictionary defines an abortion as:
An abortion is the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in, or caused by, its death.
This can occur spontaneously as a miscarriage, or be artificially induced through chemical, surgical or other means. Commonly, “abortion” refers to an induced procedure at any point in the pregnancy; medically, it is defined as a miscarriage or induced termination before twenty weeks gestation, which is considered nonviable
It is a woman’s individual rights, right to her life, to her liberty, and to the pursuit of her happiness, that sanctions her right to have an abortion. A women’s reproductive and sexual health and shape her reproductive choices. Reproductive rights are internationally recognized as critical both to advancing women’s human rights and to promoting development. In recent years, governments from all over the world have acknowledged and pledged to advance reproductive rights to an unprecedented degree. Formal laws and policies are crucial indicators of government commitment to promoting reproductive rights. Each and every women has an absolute right to have control over her body, most often known as bodily rights.
A women has a right to abortion in the following cases :-
The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman greater than if the pregnancy were terminated
- The termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman
- The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman
- The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, or injury to the physical or mental health of any existing child of the family of the pregnant woman
- There is substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.
- Or in emergency, certified by the operating practitioner as immediately necessary:
to save the life of the pregnant woman or to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
The law has to take care of the liberty of the mother as well as the unborn. As a hospitable community we should seek ways of providing support for lonely and frightened mothers, and for lonely and abandoned babies. We need to offer women with unplanned pregnancies as much love and support as they require and to assist them in finding compassionate alternatives to abortion.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.
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