A better future for our women

Being a mother is an incredibly enriching and rewarding experience. The joy of watching your children grow, hearing them speak their first words, helping them take their first steps, and knowing that you have the power to shape their personalities, is unparalleled. Being a mother is also one of the only few irreversible decisions a woman can take in her life. It is, therefore, crucial that women have the means and freedom to make decisions about their health and futures, especially when it comes to reproductive health, pregnancy and motherhood.

Family planning is not only about having fewer children. Access to safe, voluntary family planning is an essential component of human rights and is central to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Better access to contraceptives leads to improvement in the health of women, children and communities. It delays the first birth, prevents unintended pregnancies, reduces unsafe abortions, and enables spacing of births. When women use contraception, it gives them time to recover between pregnancies, leading to a reduced risk of maternal deaths. With proper birth spacing, children are more than twice as likely to survive infancy and have a healthier childhood.

The result is smaller, healthier families that are better able to care and provide for their children.

Ensuring informed choice is critical to women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. The family planning programme in India long focused on female sterilisation, overlooking the importance of voluntary choice and the need for spacing. Over the years, the government has taken positive steps to move from a target-based to a more rights-based approach to family planning, with newer policies focused on expanding contraceptive choices.

However, several challenges remain to be addressed to improve access to quality family planning services. Female sterilisation is still the preferred method of family planning in the country. There is a lack of awareness among women and girls regarding their own bodies, their health, as well as information on family planning. Limited decision-making power in a household, lack of services in the remote areas of the country, bias of providers who favour only certain contraceptive methods, and poor counselling also play a role. Overall, this contributes to low awareness and limited access to spacing methods, which are essential to meet the reproductive needs of young girls and women. It is not uncommon in our country to see young girls become mothers at an age when their own bodies are not fully ready for a pregnancy. More often than not, these young girls become pregnant too often and too soon, resulting in closely spaced births.

As mothers to strong and ambitious daughters, we have tried our best to make sure they know about their right to dignity and make their own choices regarding their health and lives. Providing accurate information on the various available contraceptive choices respects women’s right to autonomy by enabling them to make informed decisions and letting them choose the contraceptive method best suited to their needs. Access to informed and voluntary family planning will ensure girls stay longer in school, pursue higher education, and have better access to economic opportunities. Furthermore, it creates a ripple effect. Providing information and access about spacing methods will enable them to plan their own families in future.

Earlier this year, the Mumbai Obstetric & Gynecological Society (MOGS) and PVR Nest jointly launched the ‘She’s Ambassador’ Campaign, which aims at empowering young girls to make decisions that favour healthy lifestyles and social development. Through this endeavour, we are raising awareness among young girls in the country regarding their own health, and striving to make health education and safe learning accessible to them.

Only a woman knows what it feels like to carry an unwanted pregnancy. Today, on the occasion of World Contraception Day, we have an opportunity to renew our commitment and ensure our girls and women have the right and means to decide whether, when and how many children they want.

Raveena Tandon is an actor and women’s rights activist. 

Dr Vanita Raut is President, Mumbai Obstetric & Gynecological Society (MOGS). Ms Tandon was part of MOGS’ She’s Ambassador Campaign.