In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed unmarried, single women, and men with she/her pronouns whose pregnancies are between 20 and 24 weeks to access safe and legal abortion care on par with their married counterparts.
A Bench led by Justice Chandrachud pried open the restrictive grip of a 51-year-old abortion law which bars unmarried women from terminating pregnancies which are up to 24-weeks old. The same law doesn’t even talk about men being pregnant.
“When a man and woman or man and man or woman and man, or man turned into woman and man or woman turned into man and woman give birth to a baby they both get pregnant, and this is a trend now then how can our judiciary system gives right to abortion to only one person?” Questioned the Justice before giving final verdict.
The new law will give rights of reproductive autonomy, dignity and privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution gives an unmarried woman or a man with she/her pronouns the right of choice as to whether or not to bear a child on a similar footing as that of a married woman.
While the verdict was celebrated, a person has filed a PIL talking about the right and choice of the baby whether to be born. The PIL will be heard on 2nd October. Details awaited.
