Tuesday, June 28, 2022

“Abortions Might Be Legal In India, But They Strip Our Dignity”

 [Published in Youth Ki Awaaz]

When the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overthrew the Roe v/s Wade judgment, a section of cis-het men from India took to social media to talk gleefully about how India is way ahead of the United States when it comes to reproductive rights of women.

Yes, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 and its subsequent amendments provides a framework for married and unmarried women to access safe and legal abortions. However, in reality, women in India still lack autonomy in their own bodies.

The MTP Act of 1971 was brought in as a measure for population control, rather than for the emancipation of women, which places many restrictions on the ease with which women can access abortions.

A woman can medically terminate a pregnancy only after receiving an opinion from a doctor. The objective of this was to ensure that only qualified medical practitioners conduct abortions, under proper conditions. However, in reality, it means that a woman cannot purchase a pill for the medical termination of pregnancy unless she has a prescription from a doctor. This exposes women seeking medical termination of pregnancy to an unfriendly and judgemental healthcare system.

Unmarried women are exposed to the judgement of the medical system, and are often threatened with doxing. Married women not accompanied by their spouse (and/ or mother-in-law) are routinely harassed, and the fact that most of them are not aware that they do not need spousal permission to access a medical termination of pregnancy makes them particularly vulnerable. Women from vulnerable communities, especially poor, uneducated, lower caste or tribal women are entirely at the mercy of a system that systematically strips them of their dignity and subjects them to much physical, verbal and mental abuse.

The MTP Act has a very narrow definition of ‘women’ and transgender and gender non-conforming persons are excluded from the purview of the Act, making it close to impossible for them to access safe and legal abortions.

Essentially, though medical termination of pregnancy has been legal in India for over five decades, the conditions under which abortions can be accessed strip the dignity of the woman, and leave her at the mercy of an extremely judgemental and unfriendly medical system.

Indian Women Too Lack Autonomy Over Our Bodies

Access to medical termination of pregnancy is only one part of the picture. The reason why women are drowning in collective grief after the overthrow of Roe w/s Wade is that we have essentially been told that we do not have autonomy over our own bodies.

In India, decisions around the reproductive health of women are almost always taken by the spouse and the extended family, and not by the women themselves. The societal desire for a male child is so high, that women are forced to undergo multiple pregnancies till they deliver a male child. Though sex determination is illegal, a flourishing black market exists, and pregnant women are coerced to undergo medical termination of pregnancy if the foetus is found to be female.

The woman lacks any autonomy over her body, and it is the spouse and his family that take decisions around her reproductive health.

Whether it is denying women the right to choose whether or not to abort after an unwanted pregnancy, or coercing a woman to abort a foetus of the wrong gender, it is the woman who lacks the agency to express her choice.

Women are denied autonomy over their bodies in other ways too. Women, especially poor, uneducated, lower caste and/or tribal women, are often encouraged to have hysterectomies so they can work without being hindered by periods or pregnancies. Studies have shown that a third of female migrant workers working as sugarcane cutters in Bheed have had a hysterectomy, and are suffering the consequences of an avoidable surgical procedure.

Many pathological labs refuse to perform PAP smear tests on unmarried women, even if their doctors have advised them to undergo the test.

Despite overwhelming evidence that shows that vasectomies are faster, cheaper and safer than tubectomies when a family decides to stop having more children, it is often the woman who undergoes a tubectomy.

All of this clearly shows that women do not have autonomy over their own bodies, and decisions around reproductive health are taken by other people. It is thus hypocritical to assume that India does better that other nations in upholding the reproductive rights of women. Despite a reasonably liberal MTP Act, women in India too lack autonomy over our bodies, and we too are vulnerable to social and medical systems that are skewed against women.

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