In India, there is no specific law that mandates or restricts access to Pap smear tests based on marital status . However, there are several legal, ethical, and policy frameworks that support a woman’s right to access reproductive health services — including Pap smears — regardless of her marital status. ' Over the last decade, Indian courts have issued several notable decisions recognizing women’s reproductive rights as part of the “ inalienable survival rights ” implicitly protected under the fundamental right to life.' [1] Reproductive rights are essential to the realization of all human rights. They encompass a spectrum of civil, political, economic, and social rights, from the rights to health and life, to the rights to equality and non-discrimination, privacy, information, and to be free from torture or ill-treatment. [1] Here’s a breakdown of relevant legal and regulatory points: Legal and Rights-Based Frameworks Supporting Access Funda...
We are in 2025. India is a global leader: the world’s fastest-growing major economy pioneering split-second digital payments and the first to land near the moon's south pole! With bullet trains and cutting-edge technology transforming the country, it seems we’re making progress in every sphere. Yet, for unmarried women in India, not much has changed . Despite these advancements, they still face systemic barriers to basic healthcare, with access to gynaecological services like Pap smears denied based on marital status. Ugh, only! Let me remind here that cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in India and boosting screening services like pap smear test IS the ONLY way to reduce the disease burden. Denied once I was 32, working as a UNICEF consultant to the Ministry supporting national policy writing and roll-out, held a Masters and carried over a decade’s experience in the Indian development sector. Basically, my support work was to benefit 16 Cr rural househol...