Women's Health Project (MUKTA)

An outcome of the research done on Abortion Access, an effort was made to place it in the larger context of Gender, Women's Access to Health Care and Women's Rights and four workshops were organized in rural Maharashtra culminating in a dialogue with decision makers with intention to make issues of access to women’s health, right to abortion services and the stand against sex selection more accessible to rural activists.

It was essential to deal with abortion services as a part of the general and reproductive health care, both to establish a rightful place for abortion services in the health care package from public services as well as to emphasise its importance among rural health activists. A second reason was also the difficulty of dealing with ‘abortions’ in isolation, as this subject is still a taboo.

The project was named MUKTA, signifying the liberated woman, a small effort towards women gaining their rights and moving towards a liberated and empowering existence.

Supported by:Witwatersand University, Johannesburg, South Africa
Team: Amita Pitre, Bhagyashree Khaire, Audrey Ferandez, Vidya Kulkarni and Sunita Bandewar