Legalizing Abortion; Still A Taboo in Sri Lanka? By Tiranya Ranasinghe
By: Everystory Sri Lanka
Tags: Abortion

Legalizing Abortion; Still A Taboo in Sri Lanka? By Tiranya Ranasinghe

Young Feminist Network is hosted by Everystory Sri Lanka. The Network brings together young women and girls in Sri Lanka interested in issues of gender, feminism and activism together to learn from each other, collaborate on projects, be connected to funding and other opportunities, mentoring opportunities, how to better shape their ideas and work, tools they can use and more. This will be an informal network built collectively with the members and their ideas/needs. Everystory Sri Lanka Nov 27, 2020·3 min read

This piece first appeared following a call for submissions in the Young Feminist Network by ESSL newsletter for the Month of August 2020

The debate on whether abortion should be legalized continues to be an uphill battle where crux of the matter has boiled down to two main components: freedom of choice and freedom to life.

The term ‘abortion’ refers to the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. Many women are forced to go through harmful and unsafe procedures in Sri Lanka, as abortion is deemed illegal and heavily frowned upon by society. Statistics show that majority of the women who go through these procedures are from lower income families, who cannot afford to pay private healthcare, thus resorting to unsafe means. Women who want to abort as a result of rape, incest or even fetal deformities are not granted any jurisdiction to get an abortion by the law, ultimately restricting their freedom of choice.

The Sri Lankan society still remains to be very close-minded on this particular issue, as the ‘morality’ of the situation remains to be the key core of their argument in which they believe that one goes against the law of nature and commits a murder the moment they choose to seek an abortion. People have developed an inherit bias where they believe that the moment abortion is legalized in Sri Lanka, women are going to misuse the law and this prejudice stems from a patriarchal society that is afraid to lessen their control over the freedom of choice women are subjected to. But what society has failed to understand is that each circumstance is different, and there are many reasons that can justify seeking an abortion, such as a woman’s mental health (which means that she may be incapable of raising a child), financial situations and even being in an abusive marriage. What’s ironic is that despite the state being so adamant on prohibiting abortion, the state has not provided any suitable alternatives to adopt the child or any other measures that will give comfort to the lady who is not ready to be a mother. Therefore, questioning the morality of the situation has passed beyond the current status quo, and as society progresses, women are now fighting for their freedom of choice as it should be them who makes a choice on whether a child should be brought into the world.

The debate on this matter continues to enlighten many Sri Lankans and there is hope for the future as an increasing amount of Sri Lankan women and activists continue to be pro-active on this matter.