The jurisdiction of the High court of Bangladesh strictly rules out the possibility of abortion for

women except under one scenario - to save that woman’s life. In a contrasting view, most

countries in the United Nations allow abortion for precise incidents, i.e., rape or incest.

According to the Centre for Reproductive Rights, a global legal advocacy rights for women,

clearly clarifies that the sovereign states licenses abortion if a woman states herself to be a victim

of rape and/or incest. Furthermore, the Committee against Torture (CAT) have also disapproved

countries (including Bangladesh) that have not only barred abortion but also banned the

exceptions for rape and incest victims. Thus, such horrendous law puts the women rights under

jeopardy and results into them having traumatizing stress period in their lives. This eventually

constitutes to the idea of not performing abortion which violates bodily autonomy rights. Moving

forward, Bangladesh suffers from a poor record of accountability in terms of accessing abortion

in case of rape. Whereas, the European Court of Human Rights has recently addressed a

statement against Poland for failing to ensure safe and swift access to abortion facilities.

Thereby, our country ought to acquire such similar stances and mechanism to ensure the

fundamental right to life for women in Bangladesh.

The legalization of abortion under rape and incest is certainly an exasperating struggle in some

countries; however, the battle does not end there. The women counterpart is faced with

increasing problems such as evidentiary burden- meaning to undergo abortion they have to prove

it to the designated authorities. These includes forensic verification or police investigation;

which is highly criticized by numerous organizations as it prevents retrieving abortion in due

time and could also exceed beyond the gestational limit. Therefore, hassles generated through

these complications creates damaging impact on their mental health. So, the only remedies to

these peculiar yet haunting procedures is complete eradication, and a legislation has to be
designed where women will not be raised questions, will not have to provide any evidence nor

need to identify the perpetrator of rape or incest, rather they can receive prompt abortion care by

just their verbal claim. his is what third world countries like Ethiopia and Ghana were considered

enough to implement, this is what Bangladesh should execute too.

Reasons why incest and rape lead to abortion and the evidentiary burden (LOGOS1)

 Examples of evidentiary burden

 Problems delaying abortions
 Life hazards associated with it
 Forensic report complication
 Police examination time frame
 Anomalies deriving from the two causes leading to further complications
 Examples of BD facing such issues- along with Monetary values
 What possible solution can be?
 How other countries follow and law being passed.

The application of law in foreign countries in contrast to Bangladesh

  Penal code – its unpopularity
 The severity of punishment of breaking the law
 Compared to how other countries changed

References

Centre for Reproductive Rights. (n.d.). Law and Policy Guide: Rape and Incest Exceptions.

Retrieved from October 25, 2022. https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/law-

and-policy-guide-rape-and-incest-exceptions/