Woman cannot be forced to give birth; reproductive choice part of Article 21: Bombay High Court

A woman cannot be forced to give birth to a child since her right to reproductive choice is an inseparable part of her personal liberty under Article 21, the Bombay High Court recently held [Pundlik Yevatkar vs Ujwala @ Shubhangi Yevatkar]..In a plea seeking divorce, after the petitioner husband contended that termination of pregnancy by his wife without his consent amounted to cruelty, a bench of Justices Atul Chandurkar and Urmila Joshi-Phalke noted that firstly, her conduct demonstrated her willingness to take responsibility of the child. Nevertheless, continuation of pregnancy was her choice, the Court underscored."It is well settled that the right of a woman to have reproductive choice is an insegregable part of her personal liberty as envisaged under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Admittedly, she cannot be forced to give birth to a child," the Court stated.The Court also held that a woman wishing to work after marriage did not amount to cruelty and dismissed the petition..The petitioner-husband had alleged that ever since getting married in 2001, his wife insisted on having a job and further terminated her pregnancy, subjecting him to cruelty. He added that she left their matrimonial home with their son in 2004, and therefore deserted him as well. Hence, he sought divorce on grounds of cruelty and desertion.On the other hand, the woman argued that delivery of her first child was an indication of acceptance of motherhood on her part. Additionally, she claimed that her second pregnancy was terminated on account of sickness and that her husband had made no efforts to bring her back to their matrimonial home after she left due to his family suspecting her chastity..The Court noted that neither parties had any evidence to support their claims regarding the termination of pregnancy but since the woman had already delivered a child, it could not be said that she was reluctant to embrace motherhood.It added that even if the husband's allegations were taken on face value, the woman could not be accused of cruelty for making a reproductive choice.Further, it found the allegations about his wife harassing him for a job to be vague and stated that allegations of cruelty could not be based on trivial issues so as to grant a decree of divorce and, therefore, dismissed the petition.[Read Judgment]