No, this is not a review of the hard hitting Romanian movie 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile. That movie shook me no end and I have already reviewed it here (Tamil) and added it to my all time favorites list here.
This is about the current debate on Abortions in India, apropos the petition filed by a couple in Mumbai to abort their 26 week pregnancy. The Law doesn't allow abortions after 20-24 weeks unless the mother's life is in danger.
Well, it turns out the doctors may have made a erroneous diagnosis in that case and the court has rejected their petition. But I heard that Mother's rhetoric on Television which went like "if my kid grows up defective and asks me why did you give birth to me, if you knew I will be born this way?".
Although this is a really grey area, I think the above argument is not morally sustainable. By this logic, we should allow mothers to kill female fetuses and new-borns because the child is probably condemned to life long poverty and discrimination. Or say babies born with congenital disorders.
4,3,2 made me read a lot on abortions, to the point I became a fan of Ann Coulter and view Republicans with a lot more respect! I'm now neither pro-choice nor pro-life. I'm something like pro-Mom where the society allows her to make the decision while actively encouraging her to keep the pregnancy.
Many western nations have help yourself laws, where women can abort at will. India and few other countries allow conditional abortions (in India, the mother merely has to offer a reason). At least in theory, this should get the Mother access to a counselor. So all's well.
But the 4,3,2 type 1980's Romanian horrors are still common-place in countries like Nicaragua, El-Salvador and Chile. And ofcourse lots of Indian mothers still turn to mid-wives with disastrous consequences. Anyway India is better-of with the recent debate.
Aside: Folks in Bengaluru may wanna check out this German Film Week.
4 comments:
I am for mercy killing and even abortion sometimes but this case is appalling. Its a 6 month old baby they want to kill. I pity the kid now, not because it might have a defect but because it has to live with parents like them.
>> Its a 6 month old baby they want to kill.
It'll be interesting to find when the diagnosis was made. In some cases, even the law allows abortions at 24 weeks which is > 5 months.
Just observed that 'luni' shares the same root as "lunar" and hence the 'moon', which in turn is related to "month". (I just now realised that 'month' is called so because it is the period of revolution of moon!)
btw, saptami is week because of "sapta" (seven), most probably.
There is a reason why these are called indo-european languages.
apparently, yes.
I watched a movie called Warchild yesterday. They were speaking Bosnian and German in the movie. Noticed that words relating to me, my, mine etc have similar words in Hindi and Bosnian too. Even 'meaning' rhymes with 'maane' in Hindi.
Anyway returning to the subject of the post, the woman called Nikita who created this whole ruckus has had a miscarriage. Pretty obviously an illegal abortion. I just wish the Government prosecutes her for murder.
But Hindus have very loose morals in these kind of issues, I think. I wish the Christian lobby had been more pro-active.
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