Abortion Rights: Who Decides — Country, Religion or Society? || Acharya Prashant, IIT-Delhi (2025) - video Dailymotion

Acharya Prashant

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00:00Greetings, sir. It's an honor and privilege to be here. And my question is regarding

00:08abortion. There is a recent debate going on in US and worldwide. Recently, US and Poland

00:15have passed laws restricting abortion access. While on contrary, if we see that there are

00:22women activists and feminists and women like us, we support that abortion should be a legal

00:29right and it should be accessible to women, considering their health and their rights

00:36also. While there is this Texas Senate Bill 8, there was in US, which banned abortion, like

00:45up to six weeks of pregnancy. Also, there are pro-life people who say that in like they quote

00:52from Bible, there is this Sam 139, 13 to 16 reference, which they give and they say that

01:00it's a murder because life is some form of God or something like that. I don't have the

01:06clear idea, but I have some references to that. So what's your stance on this and how should

01:12we navigate through it? Because in a progressive society and basically, especially in India,

01:17when developing nations see developed countries and they pass such regressive laws, how should

01:24we see that and how should we move forward? Thank you.

01:27First of all, you have to understand the philosophy the whole thing is coming from. So there is

01:33this woman. The woman is also a life form. If you are pro-life, then the woman carrying the

01:40baby in the womb. The woman is life and a bigger form of life. Yes.

01:46Then there is the baby in the womb. And somehow, it has come to this that the woman does not want

01:56the baby. The woman does not want the baby. So now it's no more a harmonious situation where the

02:04woman wants to carry the baby and the woman or the baby are one and their interests are aligned.

02:08They are no more aligned. The woman is saying, I don't want to carry the baby. So choice has

02:13to be made between the two. This life form and that life form. Ideally, in the best of cases,

02:21we would want both to be saved, both to live and prosper in the best way possible. Correct?

02:30That's the ideal situation. Nobody wants anybody to be killed. Be it a grown up human being or a little

02:39fetus. Nobody wants anybody to be killed. That's the first thing. But if a choice has to be made,

02:44then let's say I am the one choosing in favor of the little one. I'm making that choice. I'm the state.

02:51I'm the church. And I'm saying the life of that little thing is precious. The woman is saying to me,

03:01not precious for some reason best known to me. The church or the state is saying, no, it is precious.

03:07It is very precious. Then my question is, to whom is it precious? To whom is it precious? It is precious

03:14now to the state and the church. So then they should take ownership. The woman is saying, no more my baby.

03:25I want to get rid of this. And the state and the church are saying, we are full of compassion.

03:32We want that little thing to survive, which is a noble thought. Agreed. But if you are the one who want

03:40that little thing to survive, then you should take ownership and relieve the woman of that. You cannot

03:48say, we are the ones greatly interested in the survival of the fetus. But you should be the one

03:56taking responsibility of carrying the baby and then nursing it and then raising it. That's unfair, right?

04:02That's unfair. We had a case. There were goats. Somebody wanted to slaughter them in our neighborhood.

04:16So we said, fine, we take ownership. We paid a heavy amount and we took those goats. Right? And that

04:24sounds fair. So if you are so interested in the baby, you take ownership of the baby right now.

04:31Right now. Right now. But we can't take ownership of the baby. Then it's a woman's baby and let her do what

04:37she wants to do. Let her do what she wants to do. Or at least when the kid takes birth,

04:47you must have state systems capable of adopting the kid, raising it without the mother,

04:54giving it the kind of nutrition and care and upbringing that ideally any baby deserves.

05:08Because now you are deciding to become the parent, the foster parent. And if you have taken over

05:15parenting upon yourself, that's what you have taken up, then you act like a parent. Why are you forcing

05:21the mother to act like a parent? She doesn't want to. We too want that both should have the best.

05:30Because both are living beings. We understand. We too want that the little kid should be saved

05:35and take birth. But if I want that, then this being my want, the responsibility is also mine. And I am the

05:45state. If that's the kind of anti-abortion stance I want to take, then being the state, I should have

05:53raised institutions first. Alright, you please just give birth. This much favor you do to the state.

05:59Please give birth and then hand over the baby. And we'll raise the baby beautifully. We'll not allow the

06:05baby to feel the absence of parents. Right kind of care, nutrition, emotional warmth, whatever a kid

06:11needs, we will provide. The right education, yes, we will provide. We are the state. Now, instead you are

06:17saying, no, you give birth and then you carry it. Even if you have five kids, you still give birth to the sixth

06:25one. Even if you are saying you are frail and weak of body, you still give birth. Even if you are not in the

06:32right emotional state, you still give birth. Even if you feel you have been impregnated by deception, you still give

06:39birth. That's not fair. Yes, we all want the baby to survive. But for that little thing, the welfare of

06:50this big thing cannot be compromised. When it comes to choosing between life forms, don't we all have to

07:00make choices? Life is life. But not all life forms we take as equal. Do we? Do we? Certain forms of life

07:14are more important and valuable than other forms of life. Similarly, between the mother and the little

07:21thing in the womb, it is the mother that holds importance and it is the mother's opinion that

07:28counts. Being the state, one thing I said we should have had institutions. If I want to take an anti-abortion

07:36stand, then I should have had institutions, first of all, for taking care of babies saved from abortion.

07:43That is the first thing. Second thing,

07:45If you are complaining that too many women are opting for abortion, then you have to ask yourself

07:53what kind of education have you provided your girls? And providing education to the girls,

08:02isn't that the responsibility of the state?

08:06The responsibility of the state, and that's enshrined in our constitution as well, the Indian

08:12constitution. The responsibility of the state is to provide great education, raise capable human

08:19adults and leave it at that. I have educated you well, I have raised you well, and now I'll respect

08:28your decisions. That's what education is all about. In fact, now, if I foist my decision on you,

08:36that's an insult to the education I have provided you. What is the point of education? If even at the

08:43age of 25, I have to command you. The very output of education is a human being capable of taking her

08:53own decisions. And when that human being takes her own decisions, the onus is on the society and the

09:02state to accept those decisions, honour those decisions. First of all, we should have boys and

09:10girls, men and women who have been made capable of taking wise, mature, deep decisions in life, right?

09:18That should be the quality of upbringing, parenting, education. No? And once they reach the decision-making

09:26age, everybody should step back and let them be. Now you are mature. Now you are a capable adult.

09:36You decide for yourself. I'm not going to come and dictate terms to you. Abortion or no abortion,

09:43that's going to be your decision. And I trust that I have raised you really wisely into a mature woman.

09:50So if you decide this way, fine with me, that way, that too fine with me.

09:58Are you getting it? You cannot have a weak foundation and then try to cover up by using colorful,

10:10glittery paint or through legislation. The building is raised on a weak foundation.

10:17And now you want to penalize everybody who comes and shakes it up even little. You don't do this.

10:27Sir, sir, first question is to you. Why did you allow this building to stand on such a weak

10:35foundation and now you are trying to protect it through legislation? What kind of stupidity is this?

10:39Do you see the ugly kind of interference of organized religion here? You can have abortion till so many

10:58weeks or months and after that you cannot have. Why? Because this particular month the soul enters the womb.

11:06What nonsense. If it's a living being, it's living from the outset.

11:15Living from the outset. How can at some intermediate point, the being suddenly magically gain life?

11:23If it is life, it is life always. If you have to decide on a cutoff point, it may be the point where

11:31the male cell mated with the female cell. Maybe that's the point when you can say life has begun.

11:38But you cannot say fourth month, sixth month. That's the point when Jivatma

11:44gets into the womb. Either it was always conscious or it is never going to be conscious at all. Again,

11:50bad philosophy. Such point in time the being gained life. How, sir? How? How exactly? Neither science nor

12:01spirituality supports this. Only your random beliefs support this.

12:20Those summer life. How, sir? How, sir? How amazing!

12:28So, how, sir? How, sir? How many cars say goodbye?

12:33What? You don't answer. I don't know.

12:40Yes.

12:42Yo, man.

Abortion Rights: Who Decides — Country, Religion or Society? || Acharya Prashant, IIT-Delhi (2025)

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