# Speaker’s anti-abortion stand clashes with Tamil Nadu Dravidian legacy 2026-08-13T16:57:14+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar spoke against abortion at the fifth National March for Life in Chennai on August 8-9, saying life begins at conception and that he would raise the issue with Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. This comes as nearly a century ago, Dravidian magazines Kudi Arasu and Paguthi Arivu, founded by Periyar and linked to the Self-Respect Movement, debated reproductive freedom. The magazines did not take a single position. They distinguished between contraception and abortion, arguing for birth control to liberate women from repeated pregnancies. A 1930 article called contraception essential for 'women's liberation and self-sovereignty'. By 1932, a series by Sami Chidambaranar rejected abortion as harmful but said it should not be a legal offence for a woman with three children. Women activists like S Neelavathi also contributed. ## Coverage - thenewsminute.com Tags: abortion, contraception, Dravidian movement, Periyar, Tamil Nadu, women’s rights Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/speakers-anti-abortion-stand-clashes-with-tamil-nadu-dravidian-legacy/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/speakers-anti-abortion-stand-clashes-with-tamil-nadu-dravidian-legacy/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.