Is Reproductive Choice a Myth for Women?
The union cabinet has recently voted to raise the minimum age for girls to marry from 18 to 21, bringing them into line with boys. The new decision was made in response to the rising number of early pregnancies that endanger both mother and child’s lives, as well as for the empowerment of women who are denied access to education and employment as a consequence of an early marriage. In India where many women are compelled to conceive leaving little bodily autonomy, why is reproductive coercion overlooked ? Domestic abuse is a major concern that women are destined to deal with and it is now more of a gendered crime. While men and women experience different aspects of domestic abuse, women are exposed to higher amounts of coercion and control, as well as much higher levels of terror. In most cases, women were never given a say in their bodies and were forced to produce children regardless of their consent. Pregnancy can have a detrimental effect on women’s health. Thus the choice has to be assessed and reassessed, taking into account the level of physical and mental preparedness of the parent. It is much more than ordering your favorite dish at a hotel and getting groceries for home. There are preconceived notions stating that the life of a woman without children would be restrained from joy, purpose and fulfilment. Besides, it is also believed that the callousness and sufferings of old age would be elevated to a higher level sans the presence of their own children to take care of them. It is ingrained in women’s minds that their lives aren’t complete unless they assume the role of mothers and serve the family in carrying its legacy forward. There’s this presumption that women are selfish if they don’t have children in spite of the fact that there are many women who die during labor because they had to be pregnant against the choice of their body and mind.
Loretta Ross and Rickie Solingert introduced the term “Reproductive justice” to emphasize the need to consider reproductive rights. The paradigm of Reproductive Justice examines a woman’s ability to manage her own reproductive destiny and highlights its inextricable relation to the material conditions in her community, making reproductive choices more than just a matter of individual freedom. It emphasizes on the socio-economic reality of inequity, particularly in our biological decisions. Reproductive autonomy is a basic part of abortion rights since a woman’s ability to handle her reproduction is vital to her right to govern her life. To reach this aim, women must have access to safe abortion, comprehensive sex education, freedom from forced sex, and birth control mechanisms which are considered as adequate for each woman’s health and life. It also necessitates that women have all they require in order to produce and raise children in a healthy manner.
“Better not be a mother than a bad mother”
This subject has become a prominent topic of interest among women, with social media serving as a major harbinger of information and awareness. From the development of several recent films, social media has redefined the ideals of birth control and women’s choices, and is now playing an essential part in both transmitting and questioning the conventional norms of “morality” that is attached to birth and mothering. Where many countries are still fighting to legalize abortions to prevent undesired and risky pregnancies, abortion in India is not illegal however women hardly get the autonomy to exercise that choice. With marital rape still not criminalized, marriage becomes analogous to marital rape, forcing women to submit to patriarchy, and making them endure the consequences in silence and ignorance. Women are constantly pressured to procreate beyond their will and physical capabilities, increasing the risk of the lives of both the newborn and mother. The popular emphasis on abortion and the use of the assumption of individual choice has caused a spur within the reproductive rights movement. “Social determinants,” which relate to social norms and systems that stigmatize, repress, or marginalize people based on their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, marital status, age, ability, or caste, ethnicity, or minority status, have an equal impact on sexual health outcomes. As a result, the vulnerabilities and health outcomes of these demographic groups are heavily reliant on the shield against abuse, brutality, and prejudice.
For decades, feminists have been divided about the inadequacy of “choice,” the inability to separate abortion politics from population control, and the reduction of reproductive rights to the question of abortion alone. Even among feminists who are favoring abortion, there are differing perspectives on the pretext for doing so. Judith Jarvis Thomson (1971) claimed that the state could not force women to carry fetuses in their bodies, even if the fetus has a right to life. If women have control over their bodies, they also have the right to refuse to have their bodies utilized against their will. Thomson’s argument emphasizes on bodily integrity and self-ownership, arguing that if these premises are accepted, fetuses can only utilize women’s bodies with the agreement of the women. Thomson’s explanation also contains a remark on gender parity “if we don’t force people (including men and women) to donate their bodies to others in the direst of circumstances, why do we think we’re justified in only compelling women?”.
By mentioning major luminaries such as Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Audre Lorde among many others, Annie Finch in her book “Choice Words: Writers on Abortion” cites the sense of empowerment these women felt when they had control over their own bodies and lives. She provides a voice to the struggles of women who strive to achieve their reproductive rights. The stories show the unified bravery of the activist in their fight to reclaim abortion rights, and to demonstrate that bodily autonomy is essential to human liberty and integrity. They detail the catastrophic emotional and physical consequences of cultural, political, and religious attempts to force women to have children, have abortions, or to shroud the reproductive decisions in shame, silence, and isolation.
With discussions about safe abortion rights and the pro-choice movement at an all-time high, we must not overlook the contributions of Dalit Feminists to this debate which are often undermined. In an essay published in “Kudi Arasu” , with his focus on Dalit rights and female emancipation, Periyar EV Ramasamy was the first to raise the birth control in 1932. Sulochanabai Dongre, the President of the All India Depressed Classes Women Conference, was the first to initiate a meaningful statewide conversation on campaigning for birth control. She spoke about birth control, a topic that was never addressed by major women’s liberation organizations. She believed in educating women about birth control and considered that education is the key to empower women to speak out against the dangers and contingencies associated with pregnancy. She argued that it is futile to have sick and malnourished children at the expense of the mother’s health, and urged every woman to think about it and act promptly to put an end to this cruelty.
Abortion has been dubbed ‘taboo’ in public discourse over the last decade and there has been no systematic study of the number of abortion stories in film and television, as well as the pregnancy outcomes in the stories, leaving scholars with a hazy picture of how abortion is portrayed in popular culture. But unlike films like Sultan released in 2016 where a powerful, passionate, and ambitious lady is reduced to a shadow, lurking behind the scenes for most of the film, women and men alike are now more interested in films like Sara’s , released in 2021, in Malayalam, due to their extensive discussions and participation with concerns regarding reproductive choices. Replacing Aarfa Hussein’s accounts of accepting an unwanted pregnancy, people accepted Sara, who aborted an accidental pregnancy that could have ruined her profession and future. The filmmakers had the prudence to make films about women’s reproductive rights, a topic that causes widespread soreness and hostility in all communities and countries. To use the word “abortion” without regrets, to set out the specifics of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, and to explicitly, unwaveringly endorse a woman’s freedom in this matter in the mainstream Indian film is groundbreaking in and of itself. Sara’s Christian faith is also significant since there is a common misconception among Indian liberals that resistance to abortion is limited to Muslim and Christian conservatives, when in fact, devout theists from every community in India oppose abortion. ‘Sara’s’ definitely deserves to be praised for its bravery above everything else. Sara, the protagonist of the movie states:
“It’s not that I don’t like kids. I just don’t have the knack of handling them, and it hasn’t seemed essential to me, “For me, a person’s ultimate aim should be to contribute something by which the world can remember you after you die, not just to have kids and be remembered by them.”
Though distrust and apprehension about women and death combine to create a toxic cloud surrounding abortion, the traumatic experiences recounted are produced by abortion’s control, persuasion, prohibition, censorship, or denunciation, not only by the act of abortion itself but also by the societal standards and expectations. Whether the result is premature death or shame and isolation brought on by compelled quiet, the loss of control over one’s own body’s truth plagues and devastates. Reproductive choices are highly personal and yet entangled in a web of various socio-economic factors and as a result, this debate demands the sensitivity and nuance it deserves. When a woman’s body becomes a battleground for society, she loses her identity. She is a woman, a mother, and a grandma because society demands it and not because she necessarily chooses to be one. When her opinions are seldom the final decisions, every woman should question,
I’m putting my youth, health, job, colleagues, social networks, career plans and future on the line. But what about you?
What did you lose by gaining a child?
–Kim Jiyoung,Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo
