ABSTRACT
The contemporary abortion discourse in India is underpinned by two separate but confusing and overlapping legislations: the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, which legalises abortion conditionally, and the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994, which aims to eliminate the culturally accepted practice of sex-selective abortion or female feticide. These legislations address two prevalent reproductive justice problems: the socio-religious insistence on representing abortion as sin and the culturally mandated son-preference which results in discrimination against daughters. In practice, however, the coexistence of the two acts often serves to undermine the effective understanding and implementation of each. This chapter positions the changing representations of abortion in India in the context of these two abortion legislations. It analyses the cultural biases and misunderstandings surrounding these legislations and explores the emerging representations of abortion in select feminist print and online memoirs, campaigns and visual art projects. The chapter aims to understand how these newer representations contest the shaming and silencing of women in prevalent abortion practices, and how these representations communicate the two abortion-related laws and expose their gaps. In conclusion, the chapter offers a critical assessment of the impact and reach of these new abortion representations.
