Research Seminar: Through a Historical Lens: The 3C Model of Abortion in India - Choice, Coercion, and Compulsion

In this presentation, I intend to critically examine the history of abortion narratives in India through the “3C Model” (Choice, Coercion, and Compulsion).

By employing a non-Western feminist epistemological perspective (Uma Narayan), this research seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical frameworks, lived realities, and literary/media reflections on abortion in India while also exploring the transnational influences on Indian abortion legislation. My project traces the evolution of abortion laws in India, starting from the criminalisation under the Indian Penal Code of 1860 during the colonial era through the post-independence period to the landmark Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act of 1971 and its subsequent amendments. A key focus will be on the significant influence (spike in the maternal mortality rate) of the British Abortion Act of 1967 on India’s MTP Act, highlighting the nuanced interplay between colonial legacies and post-colonial legislative reforms. This historical mapping will be contextualised within broader societal changes, including the shift from criminalisation to legalisation under specific conditions and the gradual expansion of abortion rights (which was further convoluted in India through the social evils of male heir preference).

By situating the research within a transnational framework, the presentation provides an understanding of abortion narratives in India. It initiates a dialogue to explore the intersectional elements governing abortion availability and accessibility, considering factors such as class, caste, and geographical location. Finally, my research aims to destabilise the metanarrative of safe abortion and bodily autonomy in India. It will critically evaluate the possibility and practicability of decriminalising abortion in India, contributing to the ongoing discourse on reproductive justice in post/de-colonial contexts. 

Dr Priyanka Tripathi is an Associate Professor of English and former Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Patna (India). She is the Co-Executive Editor of the Journal of International Women’s Studies and Associate Editor of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. She is the recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust Visiting Fellowship (2024-25) at the School of History, University of Leeds, and the IPD Visiting Research Fellowship (2022-23) at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh. Her recent monograph is entitled The Gendered War: Evaluating Feminist Ethnographic Narratives of the 1971 War of Bangladesh (Bloomsbury, 2022). She works in the areas of Reproductive Justice, South Asian Fiction, GeoHumanities, and Graphic Novels.