Introduction:

India accounts for over one-sixth of the world’s population in 2019 (1.37 billion out of 7.71 billion) and has grown at an rate (1.2% per year between 2010 and 2019) that is just over the world growth rate (1.2%), according to State of the World Population 2019, the flagship report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Body:

Reproductive rights of Women:

• Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world.
• Women’s reproductive rights may include some or all of the following: the right to legal and safe abortion; the right to birth control; freedom from coerced sterilization and contraception; the right to access good-quality reproductive healthcare; and the right to education and access in order to make free and informed reproductive choices.
• Reproductive rights may also include the right to receive education about sexually transmitted infections and other aspects of sexuality, and protection from practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM).
• Reproductive rights began to develop as a subset of human rights at the United Nation’s 1968 International Conference on Human Rights.
• The issue  of  reproductive  right  is  very essential because there  is  lack  of  concern  on  the  part  of  the government  and  lack  of awareness  in the  society  to  recognize  and  protect  this 
• Freedom and rights of women is impossible to achieve without assuring them reproductive rights.

Situation in India:

• India legalized abortion in 1971 when it passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, but an abortion can’t be performed solely on the woman’s request.
• The procedure is allowed if her physical or mental health is under threat or if the child that would be born would have “such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.”
• The provision includes women under 18, as long as they have their guardian’s consent, and women made pregnant by rape. A woman doesn’t need the consent of her husband, and can legally terminate at up to 20 weeks’ gestation.
• One clause, however, is specifically reserved for married women: abortion because of contraceptive failure
• Millions face structural, institutional, and cultural barriers to using accredited abortion services—things like stigma, not knowing the law, expense, fears about confidentiality, and lack of access to healthcare institutions.
• Such barriers disproportionately affect poorer women, who often live in remote, rural areas.
• Another major barrier is a woman’s lack of agency. The absence of reproductive and sexual rights has major and negative repercussions on women’s education, income and safety, leaving them “unable to shape their own futures”.

Reproductive rights and women health:

• Between 2006 and 2107, 86% of births in India were attended by skilled health personnel, as compared to 79% across the world.
• India’s maternal mortality ratio in 2015 was 174 deaths per lakh live births (down from 448 in 1994) while the global MMR in 2015 was 216.
• And while 28 of every 1,000 Indian adolescent women (age 15-19) gave birth between 2006 and 2017, the global adolescent birth rate was over one-and-a-half times that of India, at 44 per 1,000.
• India’s fertility rate in 2019 is 2.3 births per woman, compared to 2.5 worldwide
• While India’s life expectancy at birth is lower than the world’s (69 years to 72), it scores higher than the global average in terms of access to healthcare during childbirth, and also has a much lower adolescent birth rate.

Reproductive rights and education, income and safety in India:

• Early marriage, pressure for early childbearing, lack of decision-making power within the family, physical violence, and coercion in sexual and family relations lead to lower education and in turn poor incomes for females.
• Continuous child-bearing due to lack of agency on her reproductive rights have made her mostly a house-wife, thereby making her dependent on spouse for finances.
• Patriarchal mindsets and childbearing until requisite number of sons are born without proper spacing between children makes her physically weak and threatens her life.
• The fear that educated women cannot be controlled by husband and his family further curbs her education rights.

Way forward:

• A focus  on  the  health  needs  of  women,  their  nutritional status,  the risk  of  early  marriage  and  child bearing is sensitive issue of concern and require urgent attention if condition of women has to be improved.
• At the same  time, there  is  a  need  to  provide  health  care  information  to  the  grass  root  level  through awareness programme in the large scale.
• There is a need for the proper legal framework to address and recognize the promotion and protection of reproductive rights of women in India.
• There is a need to have access to appropriate, affordable and quality health care facilities and related services for women. Health programmes should focus more on women’s health including reproductive health.
• There is a  urge to  have  legislation  as Reproductive  Rights (Protection) Act in order to protect and promote reproductive rights of women and to look after all the issues of reproductive  health  of women  whether  it  is  as  regard  to providing  medical  facilities  or  creating  awareness  or having health policies and programmes concerning women.

Conclusion:

About 35 million women, girls and young people will need life-saving sexual and reproductive health services this year, as well as services to address gender-based violence, in humanitarian settings.