America’s Supreme Court has put a blot on the world’s most vibrant democracy. By snatching the right to abortion from American women, the Supreme Court has done that which cannot even be imagined in modern society. It is unfortunate that the judges of the Supreme Court have given priority to their political commitment to live a life of dignity and to protect the basic rights of liberty. That’s when former President Donald Trump got a chance to say that he had played his historic role. Trump has openly said that the judges he has appointed have accomplished his agenda. Some 50 years ago, in 1973, the Supreme Court, in its judgment in the ‘Roe v. Wade’ case, gave every woman across the country the right to have an abortion of her own free will. Since becoming president in 2016, Trump has been taking measures to reverse this decision. He got success a year and a half after he stepped down from the presidency.
Trump appointed three judges to the Supreme Court during his four-year term. All three of those judges supported the majority’s decision withdrawing the right to abortion. The nine-judge bench decided by five-four and said that the right to abortion given to women across the country is withdrawn. It was said in the majority decision that now women will not have any such right at the national level. State governments can make laws according to their own. Soon after the Supreme Court’s decision, Republican-ruled states implemented laws prohibiting abortion in their state, which were already in place, and which were due to the Supreme Court’s ‘Roe v. Wade’ decision. was not being implemented. However, in about half of the 50 US states, where Democratic Party governments are in place, women will have the right to abortion. But it is not a right, which is dependent on the will of any political party or government, or which can be given and withdrawn in a selective manner.
Women have full rights over their body and this right has not been given to them by any constitution or government. Just as a man has full right over his body and no state can take away this right from him through any law, similarly this right cannot be taken away from women. Keep in mind that for nine months of conception, the woman keeps the fetus and then the child in her body, there is no physical role of the man in that. So of course a woman should have the right whether she wants to conceive or not. This right cannot be left to any court or government. It is unfortunate that why such a basic or simple thing is not understood by the judges of the US Supreme Court or why the entire American society and political fraternity is not understanding this thing?
The four judges, who disagreed with the majority’s decision, questioned it saying that if a woman is raped or a member of the family has sex against her will, by which the woman becomes pregnant, she has to give birth to that child. How can it be forced? But even on such a basic question, the judges who wrote the majority verdict did not consider it necessary to give any answer. Think, in many societies of the world and in many countries women are considered as child-bearing machines. Can women be put in such a condition in America too? Women in America are working on an equal footing with men and playing equal roles in every field. From space to battlefield, women working with equal efficiency can be tied down to the inevitability of having children? Wouldn’t this be against the principle of equality of opportunity? Are women not entitled to the right to work for the betterment of their lives, country and society as long as they want and have children only when they want?
Those who are arguing that abortion is not considered a constitutional right in the US Constitution, they should note that through the Constitutional Amendment of 1868, every American citizen has been given the right to freedom and privacy. In the accompaniment of this right to freedom and privacy, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1973 and gave the right of abortion to women all over the country. Then the question is, how can this right be taken away? Does the government or the court in any civilized society have the right to take away the right to equality, liberty and privacy from an individual? Keep in mind that even in India during the Emergency period, the great jurist Justice Hansraj Khanna had said in his landmark judgment that the right to life has not been given by any constitution or government, but every person gets this right with birth. The right to abortion given to women is also related to the right to live life with dignity and freedom, which cannot be taken away under any circumstances.
Conservative judges of the Supreme Court have delivered a very backward and regressive ruling, citing their political commitment. American society as well as the whole world should oppose it. America is a modern society, although the progressiveness is less among American citizens in that proportion, yet the people there are very aware of their rights. They should see this decision rising above political and party commitment. It should be opposed. Keep in mind that the fight for all kinds of freedom and rights of women has been fought in America. So, if necessary, there should be a fight for the restoration of the right to abortion.
