Supreme Court’s recent decisions on abortion pregnant with semantics, not necessarily justice

There has been a gradual backsliding of abortion rights in India and despite the highest court employing progressive language in its judgment, their import leaves much to be desired.

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THERE has been a significant shift in judicial attitude towards abortion cases where the pregnancy is of more than a few weeks.

In my previous pieces for this magazine and for the Indian Express, I have shown how there has been significant backsliding of abortion rights in India, despite there being a supposedly liberal judiciary.

The recent case of A (Mother of X) versus State of Maharashtra has had a few positive and a few negative implications. It uses the term "pregnant person", for which it is being criticised for being 'too woke'. While the belated upgradation of terminology is indeed a welcome change, we must ask other questions: Is the wokeness being translated into actually moving the needle in favour of abortion rights of pregnant persons, or is the inclusive language the sole thing that the judgment moves the needle on?

Let us look at the case here. The petitioner was the mother of a minor who was pregnant on account of being raped. A first information report (FIR) of offences punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 and Sections 4, 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 was lodged.