“Distinction between married and unmarried women under abortion laws is artificial, constitutionally unsustainable”. In the light of this statement, examine the recent Supreme Court’s judgment that significantly expanded scope of abortion rights in India. (150 words)
Subject: Society (GS I)
Sub-topic: Women Issues
Approach
Introduction: Brief about SC’s expansion of the interpretation of the abortion law
Right to terminate pregnancies between 20 weeks and 24 week
law cannot discriminate between married and unmarried women
Right to abortion of minor girls and members of the transgender community.
Turning religious narrow-mindedness into a political issue serves neither religious agenda nor women.
Defenders of cultural values:
Liberation and Oppression: In the fight against patriarchy, irrespective of location, women can be found marked as repositories of traditions serving both symbolic and functional.
Societal Regulations: Women’s behaviour and appearance are often found regulated across cultures, but it is of no use to society or the women themselves.
Images from Iran: The recent images from Iran where a woman chopped her hair and burned the hijab must be seen as freedom from a forced responsibility of a ‘defender of culture’.
The narrow ambit of choices:
Oppression is not a choice: We have inherited several tenets of patriarchy in our lives under the garb of choices. They aren’t real choices, but rather meant to internalise oppression.
Two concepts of liberty: “Negative Liberty”-which is the existence of a private sphere where one, can exercise free will. “Positive Liberty”- is self-actualization of the highest order. State intervention is essential for the existence of positive liberty.
Mains Question: 
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