Teen Voices: Abort the Double Standard

Reproductive rights go beyond protecting individual freedom by calling for a system of responsibility in the case of unwanted pregnancies. The decision to either keep the fetus or terminate the pregnancy is an extremely private matter that must never leave the sphere of the individual's personal discretion.

Autonomy is a dual-sided concept: in addition to granting the individual the full legal right to access medical care, it involves the lack of any external coercion. Nobody should feel pressured or tricked into having a procedure that they do not wish for, while forcing a woman to undergo an abortion must be treated as an urgent issue of law enforcement. It is up to the woman to make sure that she is prepared to nurture and raise a child: ultimately, her body, health, and life are hers. Society simply cannot impose its morality upon a woman by placing a full responsibility for unwanted pregnancies on the shoulders of women when men share equal accountability for the situation.

There is a need for reform in the legal process so that those in need of protection from harm are not themselves made to face any form of punishment. A woman should never be incarcerated or subjected to any kind of punishment when it comes to undergoing an abortion. In India, the MTP Act is working to ensure that the issue of abortion is treated as a healthcare matter rather than a criminal activity. It is imperative to note that the criminalization of abortions would mean a regression in the legal process.

More specifically, the legal structure should be improved to reflect the harshness with which the act of wilfully abandoning a woman should be addressed in light of the gravity of the offense committed, going beyond the customary civil remedies to guarantee complete justice. Although there have been mechanisms provided by law, such as Section 125 of the CrPC, which has now moved into BNSS, whereby a woman can sue a man for her financial support, the process is tedious, burdensome, lengthy, and limited only to financial assistance.

To fill this gap and ensure an even standard of responsibility among both parties, the law needs to impose criminal penalties, such as jail time, on men who fully desert their partners and do not fulfill their responsibilities as parents. Making it a criminal act would prevent the man from running away from the lifelong ramifications of an act committed together.

This stringent requirement for legal accountability becomes all the more urgent when there is a case where pregnancy resulted from sexual assault. While it is true that laws have been amended recently in light of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) regarding offenses committed against women, such a serious criminal offense warrants the utmost punishment available within the bounds of law. Since rape results in deep trauma to the victimized female, her offender is entitled to receive exemplary punishment," – this would be life imprisonment without any reprieve.

It is through reinforcing these legal boundaries that we can ensure the preservation of women’s right to self-determination. This involves maintaining the progressive provisions of the MTP Act, criminalizing any negligence on part of males, and imposing uncompromising sentences for those who commit acts of sexual violence.

WRITTEN BY-

HARSIMAR