ABORTION AND REPRODUCTIVE AUTONOMY: A JUDICIAL ANALYSIS
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The right to reproduction has been regarded as a fundamental human right recognized by all the civilized nations. The essence of this right can be found in embedded in right to life as secured by the Constitution of India. Reproductive rights as such have been developed by the judiciary. The reproductive rights have been expanded by the judiciary not only recognizing right to giving birth but also maternal health, spacing of children, post-delivery care and abortion also. The right to abortion always carries with itself the ethical debate. The judiciary has given wide interpretation to the abortion by extending these right to unmarried women also. It has widened the scope of reproductive autonomy also. The widening scope of abortion rights has brought the paradox of choice and rights into conflict. The impact of the decision in Roe v. wade and its stand on the abortion debate and on its contrary the progressive approach of judiciary in granting abortion right to unmarried girls In this paper an endeavor, is made to analyze the role of judiciary in expanding the horizon of reproductive rights. The amendment as brought in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 will also be studied and changing stance of judiciary in granting abortion in some cases and denying in others on the basis of best interest of the child.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
JameMaienschein, Whose View of Life? 144 (Harvard University Press, 2005).
John A. Robertson, Procreative Liberty and Harm to offsprings in assisted reproduction, 30 American Journal of Law and Medicine, 9, 7-40 (2004).
Miriam Boleyn – Fitzerald, Beginning Life, 106 (InfobasePublishing, New York, 2010).
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S 113 (1973).
Indian Penal Code, 1860, No. 45, Imperial Legislative Council, 1860 (India).
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, No. 34, Acts of Parliament, 1971 (India).
K.S Puttuswamyv.Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1.
SuchitaSrivastava v. Chandigarh Administration, A.I.R 2009 S.C. 235 (India).
X v. The Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of NCT of Delhi and another, Civil Appeal No. 5802 of 2022(India).
X v. Union of India and another, A.I.R online 2021, Del 527 (India).
ABC v. State of Maharashtra, decided on 4th Feb, 2021.
KrishnadasRajagopal, Supreme Court refuses married woman to terminate her 26-week pregnancy, said there is no abnormality in the foetus, The Hindu, October 16, 2023.
ShrutiKakkar, Delhi High Court Rejects woman’s plea to abort 28 week foetus, HT, February 02, 2024.
Dipika Jain &PayalK.Shah, Reimagining Reproductive rights Jurisprudence in India: Reflections on the recent decisions on Privacy and Gender Equality from the Supreme Court o