NEW DELHI: In a significant ruling towards enhancing the reproductive rights of women, Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that prohibiting unmarried and single women whose pregnancies are between 20 to 24 weeks from accessing abortion while allowing married women to access them during the same period would fall foul of the spirit guiding Article 14 of the Constitution which deals with the right to equality.
A bench led by Justice Chandrachud observed that the decision to carry the pregnancy to full term or terminate is firmly rooted in the right to bodily autonomy and decisional autonomy of the pregnant women.
“If women with unwanted pregnancies are forced to carry their pregnancies to term, the state would be stripping them of the right to determine the immediate and long-term path that their life will take. Depriving women of their autonomy not only over their bodies but also over their life is an affront to dignity. It’s right to dignity which will be under attack if women are forced to continue with their unwanted pregnancies and there is no rationale,” the court observed.
Adjudicating an appeal filed by women who wanted to abort after a failed relationship, the bench held that forceful pregnancy of married women can be treated as “marital rape” for the purposes of abortion. It further ruled that to abort pregnancy on the ground of marital rape a woman need not necessarily seek recourse to legal proceedings to prove the fact of sexual assault, rape or incest.
“Married women may also form part of a class of survivors of sexual assault or rape. The ordinary meaning of the word rape is sexual intercourse with a person without their consent or against their will regardless of whether such forced intercourse occurs in the context of matrimony. Women may get pregnant as a result of non-consensual sexual intercourse performed upon them by their husbands. Existing Indian laws recognise various forms of violence,” the bench said.
The court also said, “Notwithstanding exception 2 to section 375 of the IPC, the meaning of the word sexual assault or rape in rule 3(b)(a) includes husband act of rape or sexual assault committed on wife. The meaning of rape must therefore be understood as including marital rape solely for the purpose of the MTP Act and rules framed there."
"Any other interpretation could have the effect of compelling the woman to give birth to and raise a child with a partner who inflicts mental and physical harm upon her. In order to avail the benefit of rule 3(b)(a) women need not necessarily seek recourse to former legal proceedings to prove the fact of sexual assault, rape or incest. There is no requirement that FIR must be registered or allegation of rape must be proved in the court of law or some other forum before it can be construed for the purposes of MTP Act,” the court said.