Abortion Laws Through a Social Justice Lens: Bridging the Legal Gaps Between India and the U.S.

Abstract

Abortion Laws through a Social Justice Lens: Bridging the Legal Gaps between India and the U.S, is a sensitive issue that can scarcely go unnoticed given that it is informed by factors that include gender rights activism, access to health, culture and law. In this Conference paper, the author offered a comparative analysis of the abortion laws in India and the United States in hopes of reconciling the legal and ethical differences between the two countries from the perspectives of social justice. India allows abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 amended in 2021 yet, it infringes women’s rights by seeking prior permission from doctors. On the other hand, the US has regressed on reproductive rights in recent years due to the supreme court ruling of the case of Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113, 1973) in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, also reversed the federal abortion rights leaving it to individual states to decide on the matter. This paper aims at comparing and contrasting their legislation with the international human rights standards like CEDAW and ICCPR. From this context, this study fits the social justice niche since it covers issues of healthcare disparities, rural/urban divide, social-economic status, and developing stigma towards abortions. The Conference paper is to explain the need to make women’s bodies, rights for women of colour, and abortion legal and safe a policy priority. In the end, the study provides an idea on how the right to abortion, might find a balance with the existing global social justice framework and advance legal frameworks that are inclusionary, rights-based and culturally sensitive.