The article, “A question of human rights” (August 11), has made a valiant attempt to restore the abortion issue to the only credible and legitimate framework within which it should be debated — women’s autonomy to take informed decisions on matters relating to their bodies, fertility and reproduction. In a democracy, doctrines — whether religious, political or philosophical, however exalted and sacred they may appear — cannot be allowed to dictate the agenda of lawmaking, which has been the case with the laws concerning abortion. The bottom line is that women should be trusted to make responsible decisions.
No nation that has liberalised abortion laws has seen any abortion epidemic. Real empowerment of women comes not from forcing them to take decisions against their wishes, but putting in place systems and processes that will assist them in taking responsible decisions in areas like contraception, fertility and pregnancy.
A society that has little to offer by way of social security and that harbours retrogressive views on physical and mental disabilities has no moral right to pontificate about the sanctity of human life and the nobility of mothers sacrificing everything for their babies.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvanathapuram
