A landmark for women’s rights
2 years, 2 months ago

A landmark for women’s rights

Hindustan Times  

The Supreme Court on Thursday removed the distinction between married and unmarried women in India’s abortion laws and, for the first time, accorded formal recognition to marital rape, though in the limited context of termination of pregnancy. The court ruled that unmarried women can undergo abortion up to 24 weeks of their pregnancy, bringing them on par with married women. Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, first enacted in 1971 and amended in 2021, all women can undergo abortion legally for up to 20 weeks, but single women were barred between 20 and 24 weeks, the limit allowed on account of mental anguish, rape and health complications, among others. The court was also correct in diagnosing that the marriage exception was creating misconceptions that termination of pregnancies of unmarried women was illegal, forcing many women to go to unregistered practitioners.

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History of this topic

America’s ‘war on women’: The Independent’s documentary and investigative series on abortion rights
2 months ago

America’s ‘war on women’: The Independent’s documentary and investigative series on abortion rights

The Independent  

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Abortion rights demonstrators rally outside the …

More Women Are Being Locked Up for Their Pregnancies Than Ever Before
2 months, 3 weeks ago

More Women Are Being Locked Up for Their Pregnancies Than Ever Before

Slate  

Last week, the organization Pregnancy Justice released a major report showing that criminal prosecutions based on conduct related to pregnancy spiked to record highs in the year after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. A rise in pregnancy criminalization reflects the ascendancy of fetal personhood as the central objective of the anti-abortion …

The Supreme Court’s Abortion Rulings Have Made Intimate Partner Violence Deadlier
5 months, 4 weeks ago

The Supreme Court’s Abortion Rulings Have Made Intimate Partner Violence Deadlier

Slate  

This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. In the year following Dobbs, calls to a domestic violence hotline that mentioned reproductive coercion nearly doubled, and this is unsurprising given the relationship between reproductive rights and intimate partner violence. But in Dobbs, the Supreme Court enabled states to rob women of …

'Foetus Has Fundamental Right To Live': SC Rejects Plea For 27-Week-Pregnancy Termination
7 months, 1 week ago

'Foetus Has Fundamental Right To Live': SC Rejects Plea For 27-Week-Pregnancy Termination

ABP News  

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea of a 20-year-old unmarried woman seeking termination of her over 27-week pregnancy, saying the foetus in the womb also has a fundamental right to live. A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai passed the order while hearing the woman's plea challenging the Delhi High Court's May 3 order refusing …

Abortion law: The movement to strip pregnant women of their rights is growing. The Supreme Court may make it much worse.
54 years, 11 months ago

Abortion law: The movement to strip pregnant women of their rights is growing. The Supreme Court may make it much worse.

Slate  

Should the very state of being pregnant place women in a subclass of citizen, vulnerable to criminal prosecution or civil penalties for behavior that would be perfectly legal from a nonpregnant person? Conservative legal groups are already drafting model legislation to prevent pregnant women from traveling for abortions by legally penalizing anyone who helps them, a strategy used by the …

Impacting a woman’s freedom to reproductive choices
1 year, 1 month ago

Impacting a woman’s freedom to reproductive choices

The Hindu  

November 02, 2023 12:16 am | Updated 09:09 am IST On October 16, in X vs Union of India, the Supreme Court of India declined permission to a woman who was seeking to terminate a 26 week-long pregnancy. Chandrachud, held that the woman’s case fell outside the scope of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 The Court said the …

‘She was gasping for air.’ Abortion fight shifts to women who suffered under strict bans
1 year, 4 months ago

‘She was gasping for air.’ Abortion fight shifts to women who suffered under strict bans

LA Times  

Amanda Zurawski, from left, who developed sepsis and nearly died after being refused an abortion, and Samantha Casiano, who was forced to carry a nonviable pregnancy to term and give birth to a baby who died four hours after birth, stand with their attorney Molly Duane outside a Texas courthouse in July 2023. They had been denied abortions and sued …

Denying a rape survivor right to terminate pregnancy is denying her right to live with dignity: HC
1 year, 5 months ago

Denying a rape survivor right to terminate pregnancy is denying her right to live with dignity: HC

Hindustan Times  

A woman cannot be forced to give birth to the child of a man who has sexually assaulted her, the Allahabad high court has observed. “In the case of sexual assault, denying a woman the right to say no to medical termination of pregnancy and fasten her with the responsibility of motherhood would amount to denying her human right to …

Compelling Woman To Continue Unwanted Pregnancy Violates Fundamental Rights: Chhattisgarh High Court Grants Relief To Minor Rape Survivor
1 year, 5 months ago

Compelling Woman To Continue Unwanted Pregnancy Violates Fundamental Rights: Chhattisgarh High Court Grants Relief To Minor Rape Survivor

Live Law  

The Chhattisgarh High Court has recently opined that compelling a woman to continue with ‘unwanted pregnancy’ violates her fundamental rights. While allowing medical termination of pregnancy of an alleged minor rape victim, the Single Judge Bench of Justice P. Sam Koshy observed, “It is by now a well settled principle that compelling a woman to continue with an unwanted pregnancy …

Thousands march to decriminalise abortion after woman jailed for ending pregnancy
1 year, 6 months ago

Thousands march to decriminalise abortion after woman jailed for ending pregnancy

The Independent  

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The mother-of-three got hold of the abortion pills under the …

As a woman is jailed, UK urged to reform ‘outdated’ abortion laws
1 year, 6 months ago

As a woman is jailed, UK urged to reform ‘outdated’ abortion laws

Al Jazeera  

Women’s rights groups, politicians and medics are calling on the British government to reform abortion laws after a woman was jailed for taking pills to end her pregnancy after the 24-week limit. And I think that’s one of the things I would have factored in, in relation to this particular case.” The judge presiding over the case, Justice Edward Pepperall, …

Why India’s landmark abortion ruling could echo around the world
2 years, 2 months ago

Why India’s landmark abortion ruling could echo around the world

Al Jazeera  

On September 29, the Indian Supreme Court delivered a crucial decision which holds the promise of actually leading to the reproductive autonomy of Indian women, in particular through access to abortion. While the core issue before the court was whether unmarried women could seek an abortion under the law – the judges confirmed that they can – the decision also …

How are new abortion laws affecting women in the United States?
2 years, 2 months ago

How are new abortion laws affecting women in the United States?

Al Jazeera  

On Wednesday, October 12 at 19:30 GMT: It’s been more than 100 days since the United States Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion. This means almost one in three American women of reproductive age – disproportionally poorer women and those of colour – now live in a state with no abortion options, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Fearful …

A decisive shift in the discourse on abortion rights
2 years, 2 months ago

A decisive shift in the discourse on abortion rights

The Hindu  

Recently, a single woman, residing in Delhi, approached the Delhi High Court seeking permission to terminate her 22-week-old pregnancy. The woman filed an appeal before the Supreme Court of India, which in the first instance, granted her permission to terminate the pregnancy based on the report of the medical board concerned. First, it acknowledges the context of criminality in which …

Explained | How has the Supreme Court expanded abortion rights?
2 years, 2 months ago

Explained | How has the Supreme Court expanded abortion rights?

The Hindu  

The story so far: On September 29, the Supreme Court ruled that single and unmarried women with pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks are entitled to access the same safe and legal abortion care as married women. Chandrachud said “the rights of reproductive autonomy, dignity and privacy give an unmarried woman the right of choice as to whether or not …

No discrimination: The Hindu Editorial on Supreme Court’s abortion ruling
2 years, 2 months ago

No discrimination: The Hindu Editorial on Supreme Court’s abortion ruling

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court’s ruling holding that single and unmarried women have the same right to medically safe abortion as married women is a necessary intervention to set right an anomaly between the letter of the law and its practice. Anchored on the equality clause in the Constitution, as well as on the right to dignity, privacy, and bodily autonomy of …

DC Edit | Landmark abortion ruling expands women’s rights
2 years, 2 months ago

DC Edit | Landmark abortion ruling expands women’s rights

Deccan Chronicle  

It was blindingly obvious that there should be no distinction between married and unmarried women when it comes to having an abortion any time up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. The abortion ruling goes well beyond religion and other impediments like single women not being allowed to seek abortion after 20 weeks. The sweep of the judgment is truly remarkable …

The Most Absurd “Solution” to America’s Assault on Women
2 years, 2 months ago

The Most Absurd “Solution” to America’s Assault on Women

Slate  

In 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment by a two-thirds vote and gave the states until 1979 to approve it. One week earlier, senators pressed Colleen Shogan—President Joe Biden’s nominee to replace the current archivist—on whether she would declare the ERA to be legitimately ratified. Proponents of the amendment are also upset that the Biden Administration is taking the …

Supreme Court ruling will help promote safe abortions, say medical experts
2 years, 2 months ago

Supreme Court ruling will help promote safe abortions, say medical experts

Hindustan Times  

The Supreme Court’s ruling that unmarried women are also entitled to seek termination of 24 weeks of pregnancy arising out of a consensual relationship is a “progressive” judgment and will help promote safe abortion practices, medical practitioners and women rights activists said on Thursday. In a significant ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court declared that even an unmarried woman can …

Supreme Court ruling on abortion comes as a ‘ray of hope’, say activists
2 years, 2 months ago

Supreme Court ruling on abortion comes as a ‘ray of hope’, say activists

The Hindu  

The historic judgment of the Supreme Court Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that unmarried women in a consensual relationship are also entitled to safe and legal abortion along with its strong emphasis on women’s right to bodily autonomy without the need for authorisation from a third-party to access abortion was welcomed as “progressive” and a “ray of hope” at …

Denying safe abortion to single women with pregnancies up to 24 weeks is violative of their reproductive rights, bodily autonomy: Supreme Court
2 years, 2 months ago

Denying safe abortion to single women with pregnancies up to 24 weeks is violative of their reproductive rights, bodily autonomy: Supreme Court

The Hindu  

In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed unmarried and single women whose pregnancies are between 20 and 24 weeks to access safe and legal abortion care on par with their married counterparts. The court said a single or unmarried woman may suffer the same “change in material circumstances” or injury to mental health that a married pregnant …

All women entitled to safe, legal abortion: Supreme Court
2 years, 2 months ago

All women entitled to safe, legal abortion: Supreme Court

The Hindu  

Published : Sep 29, 2022 13:42 IST In a significant ruling on the reproductive rights of women, the Supreme Court held on September 29 that all women are entitled to safe and legal abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, and making any distinction on the basis of their marital status is “constitutionally unsustainable”. …

All women, married or unmarried, entitled to safe and legal abortion: SC
2 years, 2 months ago

All women, married or unmarried, entitled to safe and legal abortion: SC

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that all women, including married, unmarried or those raped by husbands, are entitled to a safe and legal abortion within 24 weeks of their pregnancy as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act recognises the reproductive autonomy of every pregnant woman to choose medical intervention to terminate her pregnancy. Chandrachud, A.S. Bopanna and …

Supreme Court axes 51-year-old curb, single women get equal abortion rights
2 years, 2 months ago

Supreme Court axes 51-year-old curb, single women get equal abortion rights

The Hindu  

In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed unmarried and single women whose pregnancies are between 20 and 24 weeks to access safe and legal abortion care on par with their married counterparts. The court declared that prohibiting single or unmarried pregnant women with pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks from accessing abortion while allowing married women with …

All Women Entitled To Safe And Legal Abortion Irrespective Of Marital Status: Supreme Court
2 years, 2 months ago

All Women Entitled To Safe And Legal Abortion Irrespective Of Marital Status: Supreme Court

ABP News  

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that all women are entitled to safe and legal abortion irrespective of marital status. According to news agency ANI, the apex court held that the marital status of a woman cannot be ground to deprive her right to abort unwanted pregnancy. SC Overruled Delhi High Court Order, Allowed Unmarried Woman To Terminate …

SC grants abortion right to unmarried women, acknowledges marital rape
2 years, 2 months ago

SC grants abortion right to unmarried women, acknowledges marital rape

Live Mint  

The Supreme Court on 29 September said that all women whether married or unmarried are entitled to safe and legal abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy. Single & unmarried women have right to abort under Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act & rules till 24 weeks of pregnancy.” Distinction between married and unmarried women under abortion laws is artificial, constitutionally unsustainable, …

A law, without a flaw: on availing abortion services
2 years, 4 months ago

A law, without a flaw: on availing abortion services

The Hindu  

The most celebrated kind of court judgments are those that eliminate inherent bias vested in a law or rules framed by the government. The Supreme Court’s move last week to set right a rule that was ‘manifestly arbitrary and violative of women’s right to bodily dignity’ fits right into the concept of justice that is free, and without prejudice or …

SC favours to include unmarried women under abortion law
2 years, 4 months ago

SC favours to include unmarried women under abortion law

Deccan Chronicle  

NEW DELHI: Insisting on a "forward-looking" approach, the Supreme Court has opined that any discrimination between married and unmarried women in respect of medical termination of pregnancy law in India that does not allow a single woman to go for abortion after 20 weeks, violates her personal autonomy. It shows that they have considered unmarried women also in the bracket …

Unmarried Woman's Right To Seek Abortion : Supreme Court Posts Matter For Hearing On August 10; Seeks Union's Views
2 years, 4 months ago

Unmarried Woman's Right To Seek Abortion : Supreme Court Posts Matter For Hearing On August 10; Seeks Union's Views

Live Law  

In a plea filed by a 25 year old unmarried woman seeking medical termination of her 24 week pregnancy, the Supreme Court, on Friday, reflected on ways to extend the benefit of Section 3 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, to unmarried women so that they can The Court had on July 21 passed an ad-interim order prima …

Women have right to safe abortion: Supreme Court
2 years, 5 months ago

Women have right to safe abortion: Supreme Court

The Hindu  

Denying an unmarried woman the right to a safe abortion violates her personal autonomy and freedom, the Supreme Court held in an order on Thursday. The lower court had taken an "unduly restrictive view" that her plea for a safe abortion was not covered under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act as the pregnancy arose from a consensual relationship outside …

Denying Unmarried Woman Right To Safe Abortion Violates Her Personal Autonomy & Freedom : Supreme Court
2 years, 5 months ago

Denying Unmarried Woman Right To Safe Abortion Violates Her Personal Autonomy & Freedom : Supreme Court

Live Law  

"Denying an unmarried woman the right to a safe abortion violates her personal autonomy and freedom", observed the Supreme Court on Thursday while allowing an unmarried woman to seek abortion of her pregnancy of a term of 24 weeks which arose out of a consensual relationship.Passing an ad-interim order to grant relief to the 25-year old woman, the Supreme Court …

Roe vs Wade: Judicial history of right to choose abortion in US
2 years, 5 months ago

Roe vs Wade: Judicial history of right to choose abortion in US

Hindustan Times  

The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday last week eliminated the constitutional right to choose abortion that existed for almost 50 years, clearing the decks for the states to severely restrict or completely ban the practice. “This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as …

A ‘sucker punch’: Some women fear setback to hard-won rights
2 years, 5 months ago

A ‘sucker punch’: Some women fear setback to hard-won rights

Associated Press  

At 88, Gloria Steinem has long been the nation’s most visible feminist and advocate for women’s rights. Her response to the Supreme Court’s decision overruling Roe v. Wade is succinct: “Obviously,” she wrote in an email message, “without the right of women and men to make decisions about our own bodies, there is no democracy.” Steinem’s blunt remark cuts to …

Regressive, inhumane: The Hindu Editorial on the U.S. Supreme Court removing right to abortion
2 years, 5 months ago

Regressive, inhumane: The Hindu Editorial on the U.S. Supreme Court removing right to abortion

The Hindu  

When a democracy rolls back a constitutional right that has been in place for almost half a century, it must consider itself in deep peril. The U.S. stands at that fraught juncture now, after its Supreme Court, in a 6-3 majority, overturned the 1973 ruling in Roe vs Wade, and took away the constitutional right to abortion. With Roe, as …

A ‘sucker punch’: Some women fear setback to hard-won rights
2 years, 5 months ago

A ‘sucker punch’: Some women fear setback to hard-won rights

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Her response to the Supreme …

The Supreme Court's legal terrorism
2 years, 5 months ago

The Supreme Court's legal terrorism

Raw Story  

With its Siamese-twin decisions on Thursday and Friday, the Supreme Court didn't just turn back the clock or flip through the pages of the calendar looking for a new decade — or century — to love. RELATED: Amid all the gloating, anti-abortion right dreams of bigger wins — and possible violence They threw out 50 years of precedent and two …

America Is About to Confront the Bloody Consequences of Banning Abortion
2 years, 5 months ago

America Is About to Confront the Bloody Consequences of Banning Abortion

Slate  

Unless you have a time machine, the best way to understand the era before modern medicine is to watch Republican legislators discuss abortion. These patients, many of them rural women who lived hundreds of miles from the nearest abortion clinic and low-income women of color who could not pay for their abortions through Medicaid, were ignored by both anti-abortion zealots …

Supreme Court's legal terrorism: Appealing to "tradition" on abortion is obscene
2 years, 5 months ago

Supreme Court's legal terrorism: Appealing to "tradition" on abortion is obscene

Salon  

With its Siamese-twin decisions on Thursday and Friday, the Supreme Court didn't just turn back the clock or flip through the pages of the calendar looking for a new decade — or century — to love. RELATED: Amid all the gloating, anti-abortion right dreams of bigger wins — and possible violence They threw out 50 years of precedent and two …

A look at 50 years of Supreme Court abortion decisions
2 years, 6 months ago

A look at 50 years of Supreme Court abortion decisions

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — A look at some of the Supreme Court’s major abortion rulings over the last 50 years. 1992 — The court reaffirms its decision in Roe and says states can’t ban abortion before viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy. 2007 — In a decision weakening Roe, the court …

Op-Ed: The Supreme Court flunks abortion history
2 years, 7 months ago

Op-Ed: The Supreme Court flunks abortion history

LA Times  

Demonstrators outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The 14th Amendment, the draft recognizes, protects unenumerated rights that are “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” Applying that test, the opinion concludes that “the right to abortion does not fall within this category” because when the 14th Amendment was adopted, “three quarters of the States made abortion a crime at …

The women on both sides of America's Roe v Wade ruling
2 years, 7 months ago

The women on both sides of America's Roe v Wade ruling

The Telegraph  

Pro-life: ‘It does violence to both a woman and her unborn child’ Karen Swallow Prior, professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary I was radicalised by Roe v Wade. I was just a child in 1972 when the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling making abortion-on-demand legal in all 50 states. Along with its companion ruling, Doe v Bolton, handed …

The US war on abortion rights will harm women everywhere
3 years ago

The US war on abortion rights will harm women everywhere

Al Jazeera  

The US Supreme Court could be on the verge of one of the greatest rollbacks of abortion rights in the country in a generation. At least 17 states have already passed laws guaranteeing a woman’s right to abortion meaning access to such would be largely determined by where one lives. The battle over abortion rights in the US is but …

Editorial: Please, Supreme Court, do not take abortion rights away from any women, anywhere
3 years ago

Editorial: Please, Supreme Court, do not take abortion rights away from any women, anywhere

LA Times  

Consider the array of civil and human rights protected by Supreme Court landmark rulings in the last century: Public schools cannot be racially segregated. Only the right to an abortion, established by a Supreme Court ruling in Roe vs. Wade in 1973, has fueled intense resistance. The addition of three conservative justices during the Trump administration has encouraged states like …

US prepares for Supreme Court showdown on abortion rights
3 years, 2 months ago

US prepares for Supreme Court showdown on abortion rights

Al Jazeera  

US Supreme Court is poised to hear case challenging Roe v Wade, setting up a ‘critical’ moment on access to abortion. Lee’s experience came just over 10 years before the United States Supreme Court legalised abortion nationwide in its landmark 1973 decision, Roe v Wade. Now, decades later, women’s rights advocates in the US say hard-fought abortion rights are at …

A woman’s body is not her own in much of today’s world
3 years, 2 months ago

A woman’s body is not her own in much of today’s world

Live Mint  

The United Nations Population Fund’s State of World Population report, 2021, for the first time, focused on the issue of women’s bodily autonomy. At this juncture, many pro-choice activists are apprehensive about the possibility of the SC’s present conservative majority endorsing the legality of the Mississippi law, or perhaps even going further by overturning its 1973 landmark ruling in the …

Abcarian: Can the Supreme Court be moved by abortion stories told by real women? We'll see
3 years, 2 months ago

Abcarian: Can the Supreme Court be moved by abortion stories told by real women? We'll see

LA Times  

In November 2017, a third-year Texas law student named Brittany Fowler, who was in a monogamous relationship and on oral contraceptives, discovered she was pregnant. “My doctor,” she wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this month, “didn’t warn me that the antibiotic might interfere with my birth control, and it didn’t occur to me that …

Abortion is a woman’s right to decide
3 years, 8 months ago

Abortion is a woman’s right to decide

The Hindu  

Given the phenomenal expansion in feminist jurisprudence over the last decade, particularly on the issue of a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, it now appears quite plain that the central government’s amendment to the abortion laws not only retains the traditional notion that the state must intervene and decide for women as to when and in what …

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