Aborting rights

There was a recent Supreme Court ruling “allowing” a 20-year mentally challenged rape victim to keep her pregnancy. The girl’s mental age is 7-8 years. How on earth is she expected to take pre-natal and post-natal care? The National Trust for Mentally Retarded has reportedly pledged to take care of the mother and child for the rest of their lives.
This is the case of a mentally challenged girl, who needed a court to decide the fate of her heath and her reproductive right.
This case made me think about reproductive rights of Indian women in general. Are women in any position to decide on their reproductive rights? There are very few women who are in a position to assert their rights on motherhood or choose to go childless. Of course, society sanctions a Sushmita Sen, who has enough financial cushioning and celebrity status, to adopt a baby girl. When I was reluctant to get married in my twenties, I had told my mother, I need not get married to have a family and that I would adopt a child to fulfill my maternal instincts. It obviously sounded bizarre to her.
A newspaper report, quoting Radhika Chandiramani, director of Talking About Reproductive And Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI), a non-profit organisation, said, “It's not just a right, it's a woman's 'damn' duty to reproduce." Nothing could be starker.
Indian women cannot choose to have a baby or not. Who is asking them? Even those, coming from so-called progressive families are forced to toe their husband’s (or in-laws’) line.
In rural India, when a woman gets married, pestering for a child begins nine months to a year after marriage. In urban India, where the society is more “refined”, the probe begins after a decent wait for two years. Things are apparently changing among the young, upwardly mobile crowd. But what is the percentage they represent? How many are they?
Women are made to feel guilty for not being able to bear a child, even if the flaw lies with the man. And, how many men want their system checked to verify who is at fault?
Again it is the family that decides to terminate unwanted pregnancy of an unwed mother, fearing societal outrage. To use an appropriate quote in another newspaper report: Flavia Agnes, a women's rights lawyer, said, “A woman's body and sexuality belong to men in this country."
Let us face it: a progressive, intelligent woman, armed with good education, great career, growing bank balance, notwithstanding, it is mostly the men who decide when and whether to have a baby.