Abstract:
The female body is considered a medium for procreation and nurturance, and
femininity often gets gauged in terms of a woman’s fecundity. A vital constituent of
a conjugal relationship, procreation seldom becomes a woman’s choice, for the male
partner colonizes her body. By denying women’s reproductive freedom, society
confiscates the right to their bodies and compels them to live through the arduous
phases of parturition, nurturance, and child care. The idea of abortion has been a
contentious discourse; it questions and destabilizes male partners’ grip on women’s
bodies. Films portraying the women’s choice of pregnancy and their right to abortion
as reproductive emancipation have been a trope in recent times. Dwelling on the
denial of women’s reproductive freedom in Revolutionary Road (2018) by Sam
Mendes and Sara’s (2021) by Jude Anthany Joseph, this study deliberates on
women’s bodily autonomy. The right to abortion decolonizes women’s bodies from
the fetters of marital hegemony, allowing women to decide upon motherhood. Films
under study portray the accomplishment of the aspirations of women that are ensued
through abortion. By delineating the politics of body and reproduction, the study
reckons on the right to one’s own body.
