Mumbai: The choices of pregnancy and motherhood should be made by women, said prominent speakers during a book launch on judicial activism to change abortion law in India.
The book in Marathi, Fakt Ti’chyasathi, by Dr Smita Datar documents Dr Nitin Datar’s 14 years of judicial activism to change the law in India. It was released on Saturday at Nandadeep School in Goregaon by Justice Mridula Bhatkar (retd.), former member National Commission for Women Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar, and Assistant Commissioner of Police Jyotsna Rasam. There were over 200 people in attendance.
The right to control our own body and fertility and motherhood choices
Justice (retd) Bhatkar said, “According to the International Human Rights Law, a person is vested with human rights at birth. An unborn foetus is not an entity with human rights. The pregnancy takes place within the body of a woman and has profound effects on her health, mental wellbeing and life. Thus how she wants to deal with it must be a decision she alone can make. The right to control their own body and fertility and motherhood choices should be left to her alone.” She cited a judgement she co-authored in 2016 while deciding a case for abortion of a girl in jail who was to become a mother and had crossed 20 weeks of pregnancy. The law was recently amended to allow abortion at 24 weeks.
Justice Bhatkar said that courts decide matters based on ethical, legal and human aspects and cannot pass orders that violate the separation of powers. “We can only interpret laws. We cannot make them. Only Parliament can make them. So when a case comes, we try to find a way out keeping these in mind,” she said, adding that abortion is looked at from religious and personal angles and the question remains when does a foetus come alive.
Complimenting the author, she said that it has many case studies that can make people aware about the issue. These included a girl child who was not even aware she was pregnant, rape victims, those where foetus had a problem and could not lead a healthy life to those where life of a mother was in danger.
“We have seen cases where rape victims don’t know what to do. They have to undergo mental and physical harassment during examinations,” said Ms Rasam. Dr Nitin Datar, who has fought cases of 321 people pro bono, said that for him the fight was always about the “independence of a woman”.
He said, “It should be her right. Those who need to undergo abortion should be allowed. I decided to take up the issue when I saw mothers feeling that the unborn child wouldn’t live a normal life or the birth could lead to her death, too. I asked what if she was my daughter. The laws were archaic and did not keep pace with time.” He plans to take up euthanasia as his next fight.
Calling the book as “toughest journey”, Dr Smita Datar said there was a lot of churning before she came out with it. “After seeing my husband so close to the subject, I thought the issue needed to be highlighted. As I am a writer, I thought why not write it so people would become more aware.”
