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Curious what you imply by readers being Indian Immigrant. Ironically, the abortion rights in India now are far more favorable for women than the US even though

• skissane 4y ago
  > Ironically, the abortion rights in India now are far more favorable for women than the US even though India is very religious and economically backward. Indian society has come to the conclusion that unwanted pregnancies burden women disproportionately and they should have the right to decide. I'm neither Indian nor American, but just my impressions as an outside observer of both countries: in the US, the liberal-conservative divide on social issues and religion really latched on to the topic of abortion, in a way in which it did in few other countries (even most other countries with a traditionally Christian majority). The same divide absolutely exists in India, but it has tended to focus on other political issues instead – relations with religious minorities (especially Hindu-Muslim relations), the eating of beef, religious nationalism (Hindutva) vs secularism, citizenship and immigration (see the Citizenship Amendment Act controversy). Conservative Hindus and conservative Christians actually have rather similar views on the morality of abortion – the difference is not so much in the underlying ethics, rather what to prioritise in translating one's ethical views into public policy. I think, it may be less that Indian society has "come to the conclusion" – more simply that religious conservatives have let the secular liberals have their way on that particular issue, because they've got other issues they'd rather spend their political capital on. Another big difference, is that in India criminal law is a federal not state responsibility, so the issue ends up being addressed once at the national level, instead of separately in each state in the US (especially in this new constitutional situation, but that was already happening to a lesser extent under the previous one.)