English dailies hail SC order on abortions, underline IPC exception to marital rape

Lauding the Supreme Court verdict that has entitled all women to safe and legal abortions, editorials in prominent English dailies pointed out the exception to marital rape in criminal laws and the “harrowing fight” ahead for bodily and reproductive rights of women.

The court on Thursday ruled that irrespective of their marital status, all women are entitled to safe and legal abortion. The bench noted that for the sole purpose of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, the meaning of rape must include marital rape.

In an editorial headlined “Well done, SC”, the Times of India noted that parliament “rightly made” no distinction between married and unmarried women while clearing the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act last year, but the “rules seemed to miss the point”. “They had the effect of excluding unmarried women”, and “much more” importantly, the court has also called into question IPC’s marital rape exception. It said “parliament should have changed the law” and both houses should see “what SC has said about India’s divorce law”.

Meanwhile, the Indian Express editorial called it “a seminal judgement” but noted that “much more needs to be done”, pointing to section 312 of the IPC. Commenting on the MTP Act, it said the law “continues to adhere to hetero-patriarchal structures that make the approval of others integral to abortion-related services and do not recognise a broader gender spectrum”.

“The support of the law is only the first step in what is, in reality, a harrowing fight for reproductive and bodily autonomy on the ground, but it is crucial,” the editorial points out. It said the verdict specifies the validity of familial violence only within the purview of MTP Act, “it remains to be seen how this will be implemented, given that marital rape is still not a criminal offence in India”.

The Hindustan Times editorial called it a “landmark” for women’s rights when “abortion rights across the world are under attack from conservatism and religious dogma”. It noted that the removal of the “arbitrary distinction” between married and unmarried women “is an important moment”. “At a time when proceedings to criminalise marital rape are ongoing, this is a significant observation,” it said, referring to the court’s recognition of familial violence.

The Telegraph, however, said, “Although the court directed that marital rape should be included in the definition of rape only within the purview of the MTP Act, it did articulate the horror of a woman being forced to raise a child with a spouse who subjects her to mental and physical harm. The framing of the offence seems limited, but the reported references to intimate partner violence and the possibility of non-consensual sex in a consensual relationship may act as stepping stones to an understanding of marital rape in a misogynistic culture that believes, without always saying it, that male coercion alone can save the ‘sacred’ institution of marriage.”

It noted that this was “the first judgment in which the Supreme Court reportedly acknowledged marital rape” and hurdles to legal abortion reportedly made 67 percent of termination of pregnancies in India unsafe.