Law, Society and Gender Justice: An Analysis of Supreme Court Decision inX V. The Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department & ANR.

Abstract

Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to personal liberty to every individual irrespective of the gender. Thus, women have the right to make reproductive choice i.e. whether to indulge in procreation or to refrain from it either by denying to indulge in sexual activity or by insisting for contraception. This right to exercise choice by the women is indispensable to her basic right of life and personal liberty. Right to privacy and dignity were another aspects which were added to Article 21 by the apex court in various cases. Viewing these rights in the context of reproductive rights of women, these find mention under international law also. These rights when clubbed together along with the gender aspect, they lead towards protection of every element related to gender identity. Personal matters viz. family, matrimony, reproduction and sexual identity are all interconnected to the dignity of an individual. Forcing a woman to continue with an unwanted pregnancy, represents the violation of these rights further resulting in denial of her bodily integrity, adding to her mental trauma, thus adversely affecting her mental well-being. Denial of these rights especially in the case of unmarried women, amounts to  deprivation of her personal liberty. Thus, in the present case the apex court acknowledged the right to safe abortion of unmarried women.