While some Members of Parliament and others argue that legalising abortion would create an imbalance in our social harmony, I ask what sort of harmony is it when women (especially poor women) bear the brunt of an unequal legal system? As Dr Aruna Uprety says in Silent state violence (#55) this argument is absurd in a society supposed to be based on a constitution of equal rights for all. Reproductive rights are the rights of women, and most lawmakers in our country are male, so it might be difficult for them to understand. It is not just abortion that should be legalised, but any other issue that can help improve the dire legal status of Nepali women.

Sujala Pant

Shanghai, PRC



And, as usual, it is the well off who can get an abortion in a clean, safe, modern medical facility in Kathmandu, and get away scot free as long as they have the money. I know. My house keeper decided to have an abortion. She returned to her home village in Nawalparasi to have the procedure done by a local village woman. The haves win over the have-nots everytime, and the women are the biggest losers.

Maggie Namjou

Vermont, USA