Women have right to safe abortion: SC

Women have right to safe abortion: SC

Subject : Polity

Section: Fundamental right

Context: The  Supreme Court recently held in an order that denying an unmarried woman the right to a safe abortion violates her personal autonomy and freedom.

Concept :

• The law could not be used to quench “notions of social morality” and unduly interfere in their personal autonomy and bodily integrity.
• The court noted that an amendment to the Act in 2021 had substituted the term ‘husband’ with ‘partner’, a clear signal that the law covered unmarried women within its ambit.
• A woman’s right to reproductive choice is an inseparable part of her personal liberty under Article 21 of Constitution. She has a sacrosanct right to bodily integrity. There is no doubt that a woman’s right to make reproductive choices is also a dimension of ‘personal liberty’

Constitution Article:

• Article 21 : Protection of life and personal liberty.
  • No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

Important SC cases on interpretation of Article 21:

• AK Gopalan Case (1950): Until the 1950s, Article 21 had a bit of a narrow scope. In this case, the SC held that the expression ‘procedure established by law’, the Constitution has embodied the British concept of personal liberty rather than the American ‘due process’.
• Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India Case (1978): This case overturned the Gopalan case Here, the SC said that Articles 19 and 21 are not watertight compartments. The idea of personal liberty in Article 21 has a wide scope including many rights, some of which are embodied under Article 19, thus giving them ‘additional protection’. The court also held that a law that comes under Article 21 must satisfy the requirements under Article 19 as well. That means any procedure under law for the deprivation of life or liberty of a person must not be unfair, unreasonable or arbitrary.
• Olga Tellis vs. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985): This case reiterated the stand taken earlier that any procedure that would deprive a person’s fundamental rights should conform to the norms of fair play and justice.

The Court gave a list of rights that Article 21 covers based on earlier judgments. Some of them are:

• Right to privacy
• Right to go abroad
• Right to shelter
• Right against solitary confinement
• Right to social justice and economic empowerment
• Right against handcuffing
• Right against custodial death
• Right against delayed execution
• Doctors’ assistance
• Right against public hanging
• Protection of cultural heritage
• Right to pollution-free water and air
• Right of every child to a full development
• Right to health and medical aid
• Right to education
• Protection of under-trials