Reducing reproductive rights:spousal consent for abortion and sterilisation.

A recent Supreme Court judgement is unwelcome and regressive for the women’s movement, especially for reproductive rights. When hearing an appeal in the Ghosh vs Ghosh divorce case, the court ruled on March 26, 2007: “If a husband submits himself for an operation of sterilisation without medical reasons and without the consent or knowledge of his wife and similarly if the wife undergoes vasectomy (read tubectomy) or abortion without medical reason or without the consent or knowledge of her husband, such an act of the spouse may lead to mental cruelty.” (1)