Her Womb, Her Choice!

The author writes about the deplorable state of women in India and emphasizes that whether to bear children or not should be a woman’s choice- ‘Her womb, her choices’

I rarely browse through the newspaper. The reasons are too many, the major one being- unable to take time for it from my mommy-hood schedule. The other one being that, it depresses me sometimes to read through various hideous acts that get committed so casually.

Being a woman, feminism comes naturally to us and even if it doesn’t, we tend to join the herd of feminists because we women want to believe that nothing is unachievable!! Well, actually, there is nothing that is really not achievable for us.

We are usually able to achieve everything we set our hearts and minds at.  If in case some of us are unable to achieve something, or we fail at something, the society (read family, friends, well-wishers and acquaintances) ensures we push ourselves beyond our acceptable limits and at least come close enough to achieving it.
One such thing that the world in general believe is attainable by a woman is being able to bear a child. If for some reasons she is unable to then come in plenty and ample advice, cures etc. as to how she will be able bear one!  Resorting to medical help come much later for some women even in this sci-fi-next-gen.

Imagine, we go all out in supporting a woman when she wants to have a baby, would we offer the same support, consolation, advice if she decided not to have a child. The recent newspaper I browsed through carried a full page article about how the act of abortion is being legally accepted by various countries.

Would it be accepted in a country where, fetuses are killed randomly because they suspect a girl child being born, where fetuses are always aborted when conceived unwillingly as the family is unable to bear the expenses of a child and the mother is going to be a single parent or an unmarried mother.

I strongly believe that each of us is a unique creation of god. I also believe that our time and purpose of being in this world is predefined. It may sound cliched but don’t we express similar views when someone departs from the world.

We often have heard people say, ‘my life, my choices’. Similarly for a woman it has to be- her womb, her choices. She needs to have a choice in deciding whether she is physically or mentally ready to have a child. The cases of postpartum depression are higher in woman who are not mentally ready for a child. There are cases where women are abandoned by family in the state of pregnancy over family feuds. Raising a child and bringing a child into the world is one of the most purest and beautiful feelings. However, it isn’t a very pleasant experience when it has to be done alone. A woman may not be ready to handle or give birth to a baby for various factors, major one being her health.

Legalizing abortion may have repercussions; it may lead to people indulging in unprotected sex without worrying about the consequences. It may lead to increase in the rate of abortion too! However the government would set some guidelines when legalizing it, wouldn’t they? We do have doctors now, giving medicines for abortion or using other techniques of abortion even though it’s not legalized. I’m apprehensive whether it will get legalized or not because as law makers we lay more stress on the ban of slaughtering of cows than passing quick judgment against rapists. As a nation, whether its cinema or sports, we will continue to be- ‘applaud men a little more than woman’. So, I don’t really know if it will ever be, ‘her womb, her choices’.

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sabiha gulrays

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