Abortion in Sri Lanka in the Context of Women’s Human Rights

Abstract

This paper analyses, from the perspective of women's human rights, an unsuccessful attempt to amend the abortion law in the Penal Code of Sri Lanka in 1995. The Parliamentary debate brought to the surface a number of contentious issues relating to women's right to control their sexuality and reproductive capacities, in which women were variously assumed to be promiscuous and conniving, or vulnerable and needing protection. Some
members of Parliament resorted to arguments based on cultural, religious or traditional differences regarding the origin and sanctity of life, to justify their opposition to abortion and support other discriminatory practices in relation to women.