What is the MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY act in INDIA all about?
“There is no freedom, no equality, no full human dignity and personhood possible for women until we assert and demand control over our bodies, over our reproductive process . . . . The real sexual revolution is the emergence of women from passivity, from thing-ness to full self-determination, to full dignity.”
……Betty Friedan
PC: iPleaders
Among issues related to reproductive health, none has more controversial connotations is Abortion, especially in a country like India, where the majority of women lack access to safe abortion. Recent reports have shown that in India, every two hours, a woman and ten women a day dies due to unsafe abortion and backward abortion laws. The Right to abortion falls under the purview of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, so does the Right to live with dignity. Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 considered Reproductive Rights as one of the basic Human Rights. As per Para 7.3 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 1994"Reproductive rights embrace certain human rights that are already recognised in national laws, international human rights documents and other consensus documents. These rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children. It also includes their right to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence, as expressed in human rights documents”.
If we look in this context, every woman owes an individual right, right to her life, right to her liberty and right to have an abortion. There has been an ongoing debate for and against abortion. If we look at traditional arguments, Antiabortionists generally make the only religious argument. Abortion was a crime and punishable for both the Abortionist and the Woman under the British Offence against person Act except for a few exceptions. The alarmingly increased number of abortions taking place put the government on alert. The government formed the Shantilal Shah committee who came up with recommendations that were accepted and introduced the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. This Act legalised abortion legal in India.
Though the Act allowed legal termination of pregnancy, it restricted certain circumstances. The Act only permitted abortion up to twenty weeks gestation and required a second doctor’s approval if the pregnancy is beyond 12 weeks. Moreover, Indian society did not consider married women as a social stigma, whereas unmarried girls were not readily accepted. The fact that it is unaccepted creates hindrances in safe abortions, sometimes defeating the very purpose of abortion, i.e., the health of the woman undergoing the abortion. Even after the implementation of this Act, the Government failed to ensure that qualified doctors and registered clinics do the MTP Act.
Conditions for termination of pregnancy under the MTP Act
a. Where the length of the pregnancy does not exceed twelve weeks to twenty weeks. The recent amendment has raised the upper limit of MTP from 20 to 24 weeks for women, including rape survivors, victims of incest, differently-abled women and minors. However, the opinion of two registered medical practitioners would be required for the termination of pregnancy of 20–24 weeks of gestation
b. Where the continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury physical or mental health.
c. There is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.
d. Where any pregnancy is alleged by the pregnant woman to have been caused by rape.
e. When any pregnancy occurs as a result of the failure of any device or method used by any married woman or her husband to limit the number of children.
Termination of pregnancy above 24 weeks will require the state level medical board’s opinion.
Originally published at https://www.fuzia.com.