WHO DECIDES? THE STATUS OF REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS

Abstract

India gained Independence 76 years ago, and it’s an appropriate time to analyse the position of women in our country. The journey of a woman's position in Indian society has been truly remarkable. Women excelled in every sphere of life. Their contribution to professional as well as to social life has been dynamic. It would not be wrong to state that she emerged as a “Super Woman".

However, her recognition as an equal partner in reproductive and sexual rights still is negligible. In India, the scope of reproductive rights has been extremely limited to the area of child marriage, female foeticide, sex selection, etc, although the area has a much wider scope. “As per the report of UNICEF India and World Bank data, India has the highest number of maternal deaths every year, and unsafe abortions are the major reason for maternal deaths

The aim of this paper is to discuss reproductive rights in detail and to bring out the major issues related to them in India. The paper will broadly be divided into four parts the first part will be defining Reproductive Rights. The second part will be talking about the Legal framework related to them. The third part will discuss the role of the judiciary in shaping reproductive rights. Finally, the paper will provide a summary of the problems related to the implementation of these rights, and it will come up with some suggestions for the better implementation of these Rights.