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 | Aborting liberty: Govt wants to enter bedrooms Our Correspondent How much intrusive our politicians can get! They want to know when women become pregnant, and would like the pregnancy to be registered. All in the name of protecting the girl child. According to a news report, the Government is planning to make it mandatory for the country's women to register their pregnancies with it. Similarly, the Government would also like the abortions to be controlled. Women & Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury has been quoted in a newspaper that the registration of pregnancies "will help to check both feticide and infant mortality." In concurrence is Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who is one of the most vociferous voices in the Government for more controls in society. He said, "We will provide facilities to conduct pregnancy tests in each village. It will help provide better healthcare facilities to mother and child." Instead of focusing on the government hospitals and clinics, which are in a bad shape, the Health Minister is indulging in politically correct gimmicks. Chowdhury cites India's sex ratio of 927 girls for every 1,000 boys as the justification for controlling pregnancies and abortions. "With this [government control], mysterious abortions will become difficult," she says. Now, abortions are indeed a major issue in the Western world, with conservatives vehemently opposing them and liberals supporting them. But even the mainstream liberals in the West would be horrified at the thought of government regulating abortions. In India, however, abortion is not a political issue. In fact, quite curiously, it is the Left-leaning liberals and feminists who oppose abortions, since many of them are instances of female feticide. Chowdhury's recent stunt is a brazen attempt to placate the fervent feminists. But such is the ludicrousness of the stunt that even the self-appointed guardians and protectors of womankind are feeling uneasy. "It can lead to too much intrusion in somebody's private life," said Ranjana Kumari, president of Women PowerConnect, a group of women's non-governmental organisations. "It will also be very difficult to obtain such data. In China, the government found it tough to implement the one-child norm. Whether such a thing will be possible in a democracy, I doubt." If somehow Chowdhury, Ramadoss and company have their way, government will have increased its role and intervention in society; getting pregnancy registered will be the death of individual liberty. Ramadoss had earlier given ample evidence of his obsession with big state and regulated society (ban on smoking on screen and television). Now Chowdhury has also caught the bug. What would be next? Licence to get married? Permit to sire children? With ministers like Chowdhury and Ramadoss, the present is pregnant with portentous possibilities. Posted on : 7/21/2007 Mail this article to your friend |