The human rights model of disability perceives disability as an inherent human condition. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 has endorsed the inherent dignity to persons with disabilities. Article 10 of the UNCRPD recognises the right to life of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. This affirmation challenges the medical model of disability which views life with disability as “abnormal”. States that become parties to the UNCRPD agree to promote, protect, and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms to all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity. India has both signed and ratified the Convention. Therefore, India is under obligation to review her abortion laws — the MTP Act and the PNDT Act — to take stock of whether the legal order on disability-selective abortion contradicts her international promise to treat persons with disabilities on a par with all others. The ongoing debate and its reason are clear. It is not about the right to life of the foetus or the right to abortion. At its heart is the question about the life of persons with disabilities and the affirmation of their equal value. The prejudiced perception of a life with disability must be changed (“A tricky debate on abortion”, Aug.3).
Dr. Smitha Nizar,Bengaluru
Lower Hon'ble Justice Kannan has taken pains to highlight the judicial background and rights of the pregnant women to terminate the pregnancy even within the extended period of 20 weeks and how the recent decisions of the Supreme Court have created considerable flutter in legal minds though well intentioned (A tricky debate on abortion dt 3-8-16). As pointed out by the author , the victims of both cases, one victim of false promise of marriage and the other the innocent victim of gang rape by unknowns, the victims could have been given the benefit of termination of unwanted pregnancy within the safe and permissible limit of 20 weeks and need not have waited so long rendering the termination risky to their lives. Drawing lesson from these events , lower courts shoul
The article is laden with judgment. The writer speaks of the woman with “modern notions of individual liberty” who believes that she alone has the right to deal with the foetus (read her body). If this is so, then who gets to decide whether or not she wants her body to act as an incubator for a period of time, with all the strains of childbearing and childbirth? The language of the arguments used in the article is symptomatic of what’s wrong when men tell women what to do with their bodies. There are deeply patriarchal institutions in India before which women have to grovel especially on matters about their bodies. And it is men who will get away despite the scars they cause to a woman by an unwanted pregnancy.
Sargam Sharma,Lucknow
The article, “The everyday violence of technology” ('perspective page', Aug.4) must serve as an eye-opener to all of us. We have embraced the technological devices well beyond our living means, and in the process have lost some basic elements and values in our lives, most importantly the family relationship.Sadly and painfully, over a period of time we have become slaves to the gadgets. and as if we cannot even move a step forward without them. We we have allowed these electronic devices to dictate the course of our daily routine rather than they listen to us and function according to our needs. The problem with technology is that most innovations have unintended consequences which are piling up, causing harm and creating dangers of existential magnitude. As techno-literacy expands, eco-literacy contracts. Technology separates us from the natural world. of beauty. Gone are the days when children played playing outdoor games and when the family met and bonded over meals. together. that enabled them in their physical well-being or family members having their dinner together, exchanging pleasantries and jokes. Unfortunately, we have failed to realise the fact that more The more technology grows, the greater the danger.
