Pakistan, Nov. 1 -- As Pakistan draws the curtain on Breast Cancer Awareness Month, retired Capt Muhammad Safdar, husband of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, has come under fire for disparaging remarks about women advocating for bodily autonomy. Addressing a religious gathering in Chiniot, he questioned why women championing "mera jism, meri marzi" turned to religious scholars for prayers when diagnosed with cancer. If they claimed ownership of their bodies, he suggested, they should be able to cure themselves.

There is something especially troubling about making a woman's illness the price of her independence. Bodily autonomy concerns the right to consent, to seek medical treatment, to make reproductive decisions and to live without ...