Pro-Choice v. Pro-Life: A Perennial Conundrum- An Alternative Discourse for Abortion in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Abortion is a highly contested issue all over the world. In Sri Lanka, the abortion discourse is emotionally charged and dictated by religious and customary norms and practices that regulate female morality and sexuality. Several attempts at introducing menial changes to the law have failed. Regulation of women in the private sphere, subject to a different set of norms, convolutes the theory of abortion as a right to autonomy and bodily integrity. In the United States, the pro-choice versus pro-life debate has been central to the discourse on a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. Since the ruling in Roe v. Wade, activists from both spectrums have fought aggressively to utilize the forces of politics and law to catalyst change. Contrastingly, most Western European states decriminalized abortion whilst maintaining a normative disapproval of abortion. The legal processes adopted in Western European countries situated the debate within broader social and public policy concerns. In this paper, it is argued that the abortion discourse in Sri Lanka should be isolated from the pro-choice/pro-life dichotomy that pits women against their unborn children, limiting possibilities and compromises. The paper advocates an alternative approach by engaging in a comparative analysis. It draws attention to the limitations of the privacy doctrine beyond Roe and repositions the debate within a broader socio-legal framework which encapsulates the real concerns of women.