Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Sexual and Reproductive Rights?

About Author : Shahzlan Sultan, budding law student in her teens penning down thoughts and influencing minds. She also works as a copywriter, author in various anthologies and is an influential speaker too. She has also been featured in podcast over different social media platforms on the current generation mindsets. Keeping up to her law profession and passion for writing with skills of speech and language, Shahzlan has achieved accolades and still believes there lies road ahead every destination reached.

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“It is your life; live the manner you want”. How much of realistic accordance does this line have? It is a bewildering statement. Because, most of them are denied or controlled from living their life the way they want. One of the cases where the denial of this statement is seen is, in Sexual and Reproductive Rights.

What are Sexual and Reproductive Rights? Sexual and Reproductive Rights mean individuals should have the right and the means to make decisions about their body, access sexual and reproductive services including contraception, get accurate information related to these issues, decide when and whom to marry, or to have children or how many. But in most areas, such as people from marginalized groups, gay men, lesbian women and trans people or people from lower castes, poverty or minorities are at a higher risk chance of denial of these rights, or undergo obstacles, discrimination etc. Reproductive rights are important to an individual as well as to our society. Sense of equality and personal freedom also comes from Reproductive Rights. Misinformation about sexual and reproductive health is pervasive in India even now. Few statistics reveal, only 25% of men and women aged 15-24 have obtained some form of sex education. In the absence of formal education related to sex education in public schools, adolescents often rely on their social networks or information that is readily available through media sources or attempt pornography. While men are praised and rewarded for sexual prowess, women are often left with the responsibility of unwanted or unplanned pregnancy and themselves single-handedly suffer a damaged reputation. Women’s rights have always been and in some parts of nation is still an ongoing controversial issue. There are many individuals who still do not believe in gender equality, both men and women are equal or should be treated equally. Women are often judged for their maternal decisions, whether that is in choosing surrogacy, abortion, or even choosing different forms of contraception. After a long continuous battle and protests it was finally in the 20th?century, women were granted reproductive rights. Abortion has been an ongoing controversial issue since years. From the moment a woman conceives, certain physical changes take place in her body and these changes could continue even after pregnancy that is after delivery. Sometimes these physical changes could bring with them a risk to life and health, along with these physical changes there could be psychological changes too and some may amount to a psychiatric disorder or could even lead to the death of the pregnant lady. But with the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971, abortion in India is now legalized. In 2019, the supreme court verdict allowed a woman from Mumbai to terminate her pregnancy at 24 weeks due to a fetus abnormality that would endanger her life, while in earlier cases women have been penalized for seeking abortions after the 20-week limit even though medically-verifiable conditions existed. Another instance wherein 2013, 22-year-old Beatriz was denied an abortion by the authorities in El Salvador. Beatriz suffered from a number of severe illnesses which meant that continuing with her pregnancy would pose a serious threat to her life and health. The fetus was not likely to survive beyond birth. After months of pressure from activists in El Salvador and around the world, the Salvadoran government finally permitted her for an early cesarean section. Human rights combined with sexuality and reproduction is Sexual and Reproductive Rights. International Human Rights standards demand that sexual and reproductive health services should be available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality. T

he UN General Assembly put in place the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) ON December 10, 1948, since then the day is celebrated worldwide as ‘Human Rights Day’. The issue of child marriages and forcible marriages is not confined to India alone. It is a global matter concern affecting other nations too. The early marriage or forced wedding has led to the violation or greater consequences on rights of reproduction, maternal deaths, feticide and other related issues.

The UN provides that no marriage should be entered into without the full and free consent of both parties. It strives to protest the rights of individuals to marriage and its dissolution as stated under Article 16 of UDHR, which says that:

1. Men and women of full age, with no limitation because of race, nationality or religion have the right to marry and to found a family.
2. Marriage shall be entered into solely with the free and full consent of each spouse.

Article 14 of the Constitution states that “The state shall not deny someone equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”.?In a case study of Nagesh Meerza, the Supreme Court struck down part of the Air India regulations being discriminative against women and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. The regulations provided that “Prior to completing four years of service in her career, an air hostess should not get married”. If she gets married before this, she had to resign and after reaching the age of 23 years if she continues her service as a married woman, then she had to resign on becoming pregnant”.

Amongst various groups suffering violation of sexual and reproductive rights, Trans community faces the maximum of this violation. Discrimination specific to their gender poses serious barriers to access sexual and general health services.?“In 4 ways a trans person faces violence at a government hospital. First is from the Group D staff who will look at you and pass some comment. Then, at the ticket counter the official, will bully you, and pretend as though he didn’t hear your name properly. Then comes the nurse who will look at you and make faces and ask the doctor, which ward do I put this person in. And then finally comes the doctor who will stop his hands after he looks at you and realises you are a trans person”.??This was told by a Transgender Rights Activist. This shows how much of respect we give to every individual irrespective of their gender or how backward our society mental thinking is even after 74yrs of Independence having well educated minds in the nation. Next to trans community, it is the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people facing discrimination in accessing sexual health services. They also face discrimination because of the way they dress or appear. The lack of support in Sexual and Reproductive rights has caused many maternal deaths and unintended pregnancies too. Due to religion or lack of education, women do not have the freedom and privacy to choose what is best for their bodies. Next to abortion, is Surrogacy. What is surrogacy? Surrogacy is a process where in a woman carries and delivers a child for another person or a couple. Surrogacy is considered unnatural way of maternity. Societal pressure related to surrogacy compels Indian surrogate mothers to hide their pregnancies from relatives and friends and shift their houses in pretext of different reasons such as job etc. What people fail to understand is the emotion and intention behind a couple, an individual, or a woman seeking surrogate because she might be physically incapable of carrying a child or conceiving, but wants to start a family.

There is a huge commotion regarding surrogacy, because not only are women seeking this service, but gay and trans people also seek to start families and use surrogacy as a means. But the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016, ignored and is silent on the regulation of the ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology)/Fertility clinics. The unethical manner in which the ART/Surrogacy clinics function without appropriate protocols, facilities and emergency medical care can be clearly traced out with the death of Yuma Sherpa case. It has been 74 years since India got independence, 74 years of independent India where people can freely move and voice their opinions, yet every nook and corner of each state, each city, there are hundreds of women who still fear going alone even in daylight, or to raise their voice against the men of their household as the consequence would be fatal. The struggle for Indian Independence and the equal role played by women has contributed significantly towards development and recognition of various rights after Independence.

The Constitution of India is the fundamental law in India, which came into force on 26th?January 1950. The Indian Constitution was drafted around same time when Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was drafted. In our country India, we refer to Reproductive rights only to issues like child marriage, female feticide, menstrual health etc. According to UNICEF India and World Bank data, India has the highest number of maternal deaths worldwide. Every year, India witnesses 45,000 maternal deaths, which means an average of one maternal death occurs in every 12 minutes. Third leading cause of maternal deaths in India is unsafe abortion. Researches show that half the pregnancies in India are unintentional and about a third result in abortion.?Only 22% of abortions are done through public or private health facilities. Due to lack of access to safe abortion clinics, doctors refuse to perform abortions on young women, or demand that they get consent from their parents or spouses despite no such requirement by law. This forces many women to turn to unsafe abortion ways.

The Supreme Court, when it comes to women’s reproductive rights, it has been extremely progressive and has given certain judgments in favor of it. It has decriminalized adultery and homosexuality, the court has held clearly, that women have a right to sexual autonomy, which is an important facet of their right to personal liberty. Also, the Puttaswamy judgment specifically recognized the Constitutional right of women to make reproductive choices, as a part of personal liberty under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. In the area of contraception, awareness of at least one contraceptive method is not likely known by most individuals in rural areas. Lack of information about safe sex practices has led to increasing in HIV/AIDS and other STDs. Researches show that in India, one in four cases of HIV transmission is amongst younger individuals due to unsafe sex practices. Amongst married women and men, not many were aware of Intra - Uterine Contraceptive Devices (IUCDs), condoms and oral pills. Withdrawal was the most common method used and still in usage although, most of the times it did lead to unintended pregnancy. The right to sexuality and access to sexual health services has been made worse by POSCO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) which criminalizes all sexual contact for persons under 18years ranging from touching to penetration. While the MTP Act makes it mandatory for doctors to keep all information in abortion cases confidential, POSCO makes it compulsory to report any sexual activity involving minors to the police. This becomes one of the main reasons for adolescent girls for not seeking abortions after having consensual sex with their partners. This has also led many service providers and professionals to back out from providing any sexual health counseling or services to adolescents including those in crisis. India’s National Health Portal designated February 12 as India’s annual Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Day to raise awareness about sexual and reproductive health issues and reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Thus, we see that Sexual and Reproductive Rights is a part of Human Rights and violation in any of the Human Rights simply means we as a nation, and as responsible citizen of a nation fail in respect each other, an individuals privacy and their emotions thus setting an unshaped eradication of essence of humanity towards the upcoming generations and disrespecting all the efforts our forefathers and every freedom fighter who has fought for our independence and the benefits that we enjoy today.

About Author :?Shahzlan Sultan, budding law student in her teens penning down thoughts and influencing minds. She also works as a copywriter, author in various anthologies and is an influential speaker too. She has also been featured in podcast over different social media platforms on the current generation mindsets. Keeping up to her law profession and passion for writing with skills of speech and language, Shahzlan has achieved accolades and still believes there lies road ahead every destination reached.

Ps: the views and opinion expressed are original to that of the author and the publisher has no responsibility of the same.