The Belle Curve
Being pregnant. It brings bliss to some when they see the two positive strips on the pregnancy stick. For many women, pregnancy is pride, the consecration of a certain type of femininity. Often, it’s the only time when society celebrates a woman, besides her arranged wedding. There are baby showers. Pregnancy photoshoots. Gifts. Special food. Special care. People on the bus giving up their seat for them and all that courtesy. On the contrary, some resonate in the staggering sacrifices they would have to make, as the idea of one becoming two hasn’t quite taken a hold on them yet.
Nevertheless, between the gender reveal ideas on Pinterest and the plethora of baby items in preparation of the big event, it can seem overwhelming. For those who have struggled to achieve an onerous pregnancy, this stage can be even more daunting. Being an emotional journey of a woman’s life, everyone one has a different perspective towards it. While some like going out, wearing body-hugging dresses, and flaunting their baby bumps, others might like to be more reserved.
Moreover, society still frowns on women who don’t want to go through having children, despite the incalculable toll it can take on them.
“What if I lose my job?”
“Childcare takes up a huge family income. We struggle as it is, how would we manage the expenses?”
“What about my body? I can’t bear being pregnant.”
These constant fears are instilled in every woman’s mind and yet they are often told that pregnancy is a beautiful and amazing experience they should welcome and rejoice in; and that “you are selfish if you resent it.”
No. It is their choice. It is their choice to bring life to earth or not to.
Keeping this in mind, we come to the keynote of unplanned pregnancy. The biggest reason isn’t ineffective birth control, but it’s from not using any contraption at all. It isn’t just faced by unmarried couples but lot of married couples also come across the issue of unexpectedly expecting. Every pregnant person should consider their options and decide what is right for them at this time, whether to continue or terminate their pregnancy or continue the pregnancy and choosing adoption for the child.
Despite the options, abortions are accounted for nearly half of the unintended pregnancies. In India, the abortion rate is 47 per 1,000 women aged 15–49 years. 22% abortions were obtained in health facilities, 73% abortions were medication abortions done outside of health facilities, and 5%, that is 0.8 million abortions were done outside of health facilities using methods other than medication abortion.
According to BBC news, the police retrieved 19 female foetuses from a sewer in a village in western Maharashtra. The police were investigating the death of 26-year-old female, after an illegal abortion went wrong, later discovering the abandoned foetuses in blue plastic bags in the sewer a few yards away from a private clinic. The deceased was taken to the clinic by her own husband for an abortion as the couple had a girl child for the third time. Her kin’s suspected that her in-laws forced her to abort when they discovered the child was a girl.
While this grisly racket has yet to sink in the minds of the stunned villages of India, it bears an eerie parallel to one of biggest female foeticide rackets in India.
In an effort to curb female foeticide, the Indian Government has authorised the Pre–Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act of 1994, which prohibits sex selection and regulates prenatal diagnostic techniques to prevent their misuse. Female foeticide is probably one of the worst sorts of violence against women where she doesn’t get her most fundamental right to life. The killing of the girl child has been a particular characteristic of Indian society under the rule of patriarchy since ancient days.
This needs to stop.
Forthcoming is the name of your girl child, past is the name of your mother.
Female foeticide is suicide.
So, save her and secure the future.
Moreover, another crucial issue we choose to overlook are teenage pregnancies. Although marriage before the age of 18 is illegal in India, the 2016 National Family and Health Survey-4 revealed that 31% of married Indian women give birth by the age of 18. Rather than stereotyping teen pregnancies, we should unite to help them cope and let them know they aren’t alone. Be supportive. Let them be aware of the choices they have.
None of this would be possible without education.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~Nelson Mandela.
Education including comprehensive sex ed, needs to be considered as both an instrument to prevent adolescent pregnancy and a means towards better life chances. Contraceptive methods like condoms, oral contraceptive pills, UIDs, needs to be made more available, accessible and aware of. It is a critical stepping stone in girls’ empowerment that increases knowledge and self-confidence and improves girls’ awareness of themselves, their bodies, their rights and capabilities, including preventing pregnancy and fertility choices. Boys and young men who typically bear less of the consequences of pregnancy and they too need to be engaged in the response.
Educate to improve the life of others. Adopt to give her a chance.
After all,
She are a self-made empress,
She is every quiver of hope,
She is everything that’s powerful,
In a society who is failing to see the glass half full.
~
Written with a vision by Sara.
Designed with love by Upasana.
