Abortion law in India: A step backward after going forward

In September 2021, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act of 2021 came into force, extending the upper gestational limit for abortion from 20 to 24 weeks. Although the amendment did not recognise abortion on demand as a pregnant person’s right, it was heralded as the next step in making Indian abortion laws more progressive. The recent Court’s decision to refuse an abortion to a woman with postpartum psychosis has undone the progressive strides made in 2021 and 2022. Continue reading

Intersecting Vulnerabilities and Reproductive Justice

Reproductive justice lies at the core of the right to equal access to healthcare and maintenance of personal autonomy when it comes to decisions made about one’s own body. It is important to note that this occurs within a very patriarchal space with gendered understandings of personal autonomy and reproductive rights. An article by Keertana Kannabiran Tella. Continue reading

Reproductive labour in fertility markets: a new precariousness

In the context of an ongoing transnational reconfiguration of reproduction, emerging fertility markets based on assisted reproductive technologies and reproductive value chains shape new forms of labour, new labour relations and new subjectivities. Due to ethical considerations, many nation states restrict or ban certain reproductive technologies and waged reproductive labour. Often moral discourses, similar to those around sex work, and a discourse about the gift economy and altruism among women, obscure labour issues. Continue reading