In this patriarchal society we?re living in, we women have never had much of a chance really. From the minute we take our first breath, we are doomed. Everything is decided for us. From childhood, our fathers make decisions for us for our ?welfare?, because of course they know better. Our thought patterns are shaped and we are ?moulded? to become what men expect us to be.

Eventually we depend on the dominant males for what we think we ought to get. Most of the time, it is crumbs. And we?re meant to be grateful for this.

For the right to be represented in parliament, we depend on the benevolence of men. And that?s fine too. I mean, what are the options? We can?t keep fighting against the flow; we?ll end up with too many bumps on the forehead by constantly banging our heads against the walls.

And trust me we have made peace with this state of affairs. And we do what we are in our right to do; we go and use our right to vote ? hard earned by the way. We thus elect a parliament that we trust will make the right decisions in our names.

The government has at long last decided to study the question of legalizing abortion. As much as it grates us that we have to sit back and wait for people who either don?t have a clue as to the importance of this issue or who don?t care enough, to come up with the right decision, we have mandated those people to decide for us.

Whatever religious figures may think about the matter is, I?m afraid, totally irrelevant. With all due respect to those people who have dedicated their lives to the service of God through man or vice versa, pressurizing the government is not part of their job description. End of story.

If they care as much as they say they do, then their responsability is to create and increase the awareness of young people on the ins and outs of such a matter. Their role is certainly not to decide for those people or everybody else for that matter.

Abortion or the voluntary termination of pregnancy is and should be a matter of personal choice. It is never an easy decision to make. And it is for that person making that choice to live with it. Legalizing abortion is not encouraging it. It is providing a space within a legal framework to help those who need it.

Whether we like it or not, pregnancies are terminated in this country on a daily basis. In the back streets, the sanitary conditions in which this is done are appalling. The result of such a malpractice is often death. Of both the mother and the fetus. For the poor. For those who can afford it, private clinics oblige. And they don?t die. Legalizing abortion is also about bridging that gap between the rich and the poor.

Women don?t have it easy as it is. Deciding to terminate a pregnancy is about the most heart-breaking decision a woman can make. That choice is the woman?s and the woman?s alone to make. In her heart and soul. Legal or not. So the least we can do is make sure she comes out of it whole.