Privacy's Revival

Dr Gauri Pillai (EUI) will present Chapter 1 (Privacy's Revival) of her monograph tentatively titled 'The Synthesis Paradigm: Constitutional Reproductive Rights in India'.

• Refreshments will be provided.
• All welcome!

Abstract

Reproductive rights are deeply contested. Their scope within constitutions, the duties they impose on States, and their response to competing State priorities are being urgently deliberated. To arrive at answers, a prior enquiry must be addressed, one invoking first principles. Are reproductive rights better understood as incidents of one’s privacy or equality? Depending on the alternative chosen, the scope, the duties and the limits of reproductive rights vary. Constitutional law leans heavily towards privacy. Yet, privacy has been subject to scathing critique. Where equality is introduced, especially in response to privacy’s failures, a choice is typically constructed between equality or privacy. At best, constitutional law offers an additive option: both equality and privacy as driving reproductive rights protection. Cutting cleanly through this contestation and based on an in-depth study of the Indian Constitution, the monograph proposes a novel ‘constitutional home’ for reproductive rights: the ‘synthesis’ between privacy and equality. As opposed to mere rights combination, the ‘synthesis’ fosters dynamic rights interaction. Chapter 1 makes a compelling argument about why, despite its critiques, privacy must be retained within the 'constitutional home' for reproductive rights in India.