Annually, on or across the tenth of August, a gathering takes place in India that describes itself as a public ‘Celebration of Life’. On the floor, it’d appear to be simply one other peaceable march. Kids carry posters, hymns are sung, and slogans are chanted. Placards learn, ‘Let her be born’ or ‘Voice for the unvoiced’. However beneath the aesthetic of neighborhood and spirituality lies a deeper story—one which warrants extra consideration than it has acquired. Held on the date when abortion was legalised in India, the march condemns the correct to entry abortion and the correct to decide on whether or not to get married, have kids, or use contraception—principally denouncing all of the rights of alternative.

This yr the ‘Nationwide March for Life’ 2025 was held on 9 August in Bangalore. When wanting again on the historical past of the March, the final March in 2024 in Thrissur, Kerala was a turning level in visibility and technique and offers us the power to replicate on how narratives are being constructed by means of this March round abortion, womanhood, and morality in present-day India.

Development of the March for Life Motion

The 2024 Nationwide March for Life, held in Thrissur, Kerala, was essentially the most seen iteration of this annual motion thus far. Rooted within the orderly framework of Christian establishments, what started with a modest turnout in Delhi in 2022 shortly expanded right into a coordinated, multi-lingual, multi-platform marketing campaign. Organised by CHARIS India and supported by affiliated teams, the occasion has steadily grown in scale, engagement, and affect.

The Catholic Bishops’ Convention of India (CBCI) and its digital initiative Catholic Join have additionally performed important roles in amplifying the march’s attain. Final yr in Thrissur, bishops and delegates from throughout the nation have been joined by worldwide audio system and younger organisers. Prayers have been sung in six languages. A funerary bell rang in reminiscence of ‘the unborn’, and other people gathered to boost their voices on what they known as a rising ‘tradition of dying’. Medical college students, college kids, and clergy marched shoulder to shoulder—symbolically performing and protesting.

The 2024 march was each protest and efficiency—equal elements solemnity and spectacle. Songs like ‘From womb to tomb, we’ll defend life’ echoed by means of the streets, whereas slogans resembling ‘Jeena mera haq hai, mummy daddy ko kyun shaq hai’ and ‘I marched for the infants who can’t’ have been printed on t-shirts and banners. The imagery was highly effective, intentional, and emotionally loaded.

Songs like ‘From womb to tomb, we’ll defend life’ echoed by means of the streets, whereas slogans resembling ‘Jeena mera haq hai, mummy daddy ko kyun shaq hai’ and ‘I marched for the infants who can’t’ have been printed on t-shirts and banners. The imagery, on the day of the march and constantly on their social media, is strategic, intentional, and emotionally loaded.

Past abortion: Anti-choice agenda furthered

The messaging and symbolism utilized by them prolong far past abortion. Throughout their Instagram and YouTube, digital content material related to the March consists of condemnations, of IVF, contraception, masturbation, pornography, suicide, and gender variety. Masturbation and pornography are significantly talked about and for girls solely. All of those are repeatedly framed as ‘unnatural’ and ‘sinful’ acts—threats to each private purity and the ethical cloth of society.

Reels posted by organisers and supporters on their rising social media accounts persistently characteristic humanised imagery of foetuses—a tactic to toy with one’s psyche. Some foetuses are made to talk, whereas graphic visuals of abortion procedures are exhibited. More and more, younger kids and youngsters are featured on reels and posts talking of their ‘proper to stay’, thus narrating and reinforcing a way of ‘innocence’ and ‘ethical readability’. The content material is supposed to invoke worry, guilt, grief, and a sense of betrayal. It portrays a world the place reproductive choices are usually not private however legal.

Misusing the language of sare

What stands out most alarmingly, nonetheless, is the sleek adoption of a rights-based language and method to their marketing campaign. Language of care, dignity, science, and empowerment is built-in—solely to redirect it towards a singular ethical imaginative and prescient that denies the very autonomy it seems to uphold. Phrases like ‘Each human has the correct to life’, ‘Empower her – let her be born’, and ‘March for the ft who can’t march for themselves’ sound inclusive on the floor however are positioned to sentence abortion totally—as if beginning alone ensures justice, alternative, or security.

Posters seemingly towards ‘feminine foeticide’ distort important distinctions: as an alternative of addressing the structural drivers of gender-based violence and discrimination, they affiliate all abortions with violence towards ladies.

And that’s the place the strains start to blur. By embedding ‘morality’ in visuals and slogans, the marketing campaign positions its anti-choice message not as ideology however as frequent sense—making reproductive autonomy seem deviant somewhat than deliberate.

Complicated points oversimplified

Little question, actual and pressing points are being tapped into, even when as techniques: the necessity to help kids with disabilities, to deal with skewed intercourse ratios, and to offer higher psychological well being help for moms. However their packaging and framing erode the ample complexities they arrive with. The ache of shedding a wished youngster and the correct to not be compelled into undesirable parenthood are two very various things; but, the 2 are being offered right into a single narrative of victimhood—one which denies ladies company and casts all abortion as cruelty.

Medical doctors, too, are introduced into the fold—to not present readability, however to amplify worry. Research linking abortion to most cancers and melancholy are shared out of context and used to forged doubt on science somewhat than deepen understanding. Legitimacy is borrowed from white coats, whereas info are bent to suit ideology.

What’s lacking on this dialog is nuance—and empathy for the complete vary of experiences that lead somebody to think about abortion. Definitely, nobody must be compelled to lose a baby. However the identical is true for being compelled to have one. Reproductive autonomy shouldn’t be about dying—it’s about dignity.

It’s attention-grabbing how not one of the supporters, allies, or campaigners explicitly blame ladies, however the framework leaves little room for alternative. It builds a quiet consensus: that the one proper resolution is the one which aligns with their values.

The lacking nuance

What’s lacking on this dialog is nuance and empathy for the complete vary of intersectional, lived experiences that lead somebody to think about abortion—or maybe any resolution to be taken in a person’s life. Definitely, nobody must be compelled to lose a baby. However the identical is true for being compelled to have one. Reproductive autonomy shouldn’t be about dying—it’s about dignity. For hundreds of years, it’s these most marginalised by caste, class, gender, faith, and generational silence who’ve had the least say over their very own our bodies. The precise to determine should be protected—not moralised out of attain.

Everyone seems to be pro-life. However some use it as a canopy to be anti-choice. As a result of valuing life means trusting individuals to stay it—not controlling how they start it, carry it, or finish it. The distinction lies not in who values life, however in who will get to determine what dwelling it absolutely means. With the 2025 March simply being concluded, let’s see what narratives it should produce —and what it should choos to go away behind.

---