Purvi Patel, an Indian American, has become the first woman to be sentenced for 20 years for foeticide and neglect of a dependent, despite claiming she gave birth to a stillborn baby. This development is not from Angola, Congo, Haiti or Honduras which do not allow abortion under any circumstances. It has happened in the world’s oldest democracy and most progressive country, America.
Purvi has become a symbol of how laws that are meant to protect women could go severely against women. If Americans are puzzled about things, Indians in India as well as the U.S. can find this development both shocking and puzzling. Purvi maintained that the foetus was stillborn but the prosecution argued that she gave birth to a live foetus that died within a few seconds. It appears that she was prosecuted under Indiana state laws that are otherwise intended at targeting illegal abortion providers and prosecuting crimes against pregnant women.
Many people and activists have condemned the conviction and sentence and attempts towards ‘criminalisation of pregnant women’s behaviour in America.’
But the U.S. is not alone. Ending a pregnancy remains a criminal offence in British law that carries a potential 12-year prison term. The issue becomes more serious when it affects the lofty objectives of the U.S. assistance to some poor country. Using the excuse of the Helms amendment enacted in 1973, the U.S. denies funding for abortion services and also certain equipment and commodities that could be used to perform abortions or to provide post-abortion care.
Globally more than 47,000 women die from unsafe abortion every year. Nations are busy reforming legal system all over the world so that women can live better life. But the legal conundrum in U.S. does not help the situation. However, the larger issue is not Helms amendment it is the American incongruity about abortion. The gender justice is not easy here and discrimination is rampant. Women cannot have control over their bodies and laws are forcing abortion clinics to close in many states due to rise of religious and political conservatism. The regressive forces working against gender equity are not in Somalia or Islamic State alone, they are in the U.S. too.
Unfortunately, unlike many other countries, including India there is no social reforms movement here. American society is focused too much on economic advancement of individual and therefore does not give enough space to these or similar issues like sexual assaults. In so many ways the bottom-line of big corporates and lobbyists decide the agenda of the nation.
India too has a long way to go but its abortion laws are not ambiguous. The conditions under which abortions are done are specified in law. However the cultural preference for male child means abortions are used as female foeticide. Sex selective abortion is bane of India. Moreover, out of 5 million abortions that take place in India every year, more than half are either illegal or unsafe or both.
In gender equity despite all the progress made during the last century, or so wide gaps remain. Material progress and elaborate laws do not necessarily guarantee that women have access to justice or equity. In corporate America, only 4.6 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have women CEOs. In the political arena, this bastion of freedom has not yet seen a woman President of the U.S. Will Hillary Clinton’s emergence as a frontrunner democratic candidate mean any change to this situation? Well, at least it is a positive omen!
