Digging into India's Abortion Laws

Recently, the US ended women's constitutional right to abortion after the United States Supreme Court delivered a 'horrific verdict' and overturned the 50-year-old landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade verdict, allowing states to ban abortions. The judgment has paved a way for individual states to ban the procedure. This has been a huge blow for US women and it is even more shocking that it took place in a country like "The United States" - a developed one!

 

After witnessing all this, one might wonder what about India's abortion laws? Are there any? Even if there are, what are they? So, let us dig into India's abortion laws.

 

 

First of all, abortion in India has been legal under various circumstances for the last 50 years with the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971. The Act was amended in 2003 and 2021 to enable women's access to safe and legal abortion services. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (1971) was passed to "provide for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered Medical Practitioners and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto". In short, women have the complete right to decide to terminate a pregnancy.

 

 

1) Pregnancy can be terminated upon opinion of 1 doctor before 20 weeks are complete. If pregnancy is to be aborted before 24 weeks, it needs opinion of two doctors.

 

2) A woman can abort the pregnancy if there is major threat to her life due to childbirth. A woman can also abort the pregnancy if it is found the child will be born with significance physical or mental disabilities.

 

Under the MTP Act, the identity of the woman undergoing an abortion procedure must be kept confidential. The MTP Act also grants confidentiality to the person who is getting their pregnancy terminated. Any violation of this is punishable by law.

 

The gestation period of 20 weeks can be extended to 24 weeks under these conditions - Survivors of sexual assault or rape or incest, minors, change of marital status during the pregnancy (widowhood and divorce), women with physical disabilities, mentally ill women, women pregnant with a child that has fetal abnormalities that can have a substantial risk of being incompatible with life, women with pregnancy in humanitarian settings or disaster or emergency.

 

It should be noted that unmarried women can avail also abortion in India. The consent of the spouse is neither required for a woman nor a spouse cannot force a woman to undergo an abortion. If anything like this happens, a case for domestic violence can be registered and under IPC 312/313, a case for causing miscarriage can be booked against the husband.

On the other hand, a woman, whether a minor or not, cannot walk into a pharmacy to avail a pill for termination of pregnancy unless she has a prescription from a trained medical practitioner. All women seeking to terminate their pregnancy have a right to have access to a medical team consisting of a gynecologist, pediatrician, radiologist, and any other special medical practitioners required as per their individual requirements.

According to the Ministry, abortion is covered by the government's public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees' State Insurance with the package rate for surgical abortion being set at Rs 15,500 which includes consultation, therapy, hospitalization, medication, USG or follow ups. For medical abortion, the package rate is set at Rs 1,500 which includes consultation and USG.

(i) has a recognized medical qualification under the Indian Medical Council Act.

(ii) whose name is entered in the State Medical Register.

(iii) who has such experience or training in gynaecology and obstetrics as per the MTP Rules.

All government hospitals are by default permitted to provide CAC services. Facilities in the private sector, however, require approval of the government.

 

- The Medical Board has approve or deny the request for termination within 3 days of receiving it.

- To ensure that the termination procedure, when advised by the Medical Board, is carried out with all safety precautions along with appropriate counselling within 5 days of the receipt of the request for medical termination of pregnancy.

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) makes abortion ('induced miscarriage') a criminal offence under Section 312. But, the MTP Act is the exception to this law. The law safeguards registered medical practitioners by laying down certain conditions under which they can terminate the pregnancy.

 

India was one of the first countries in the world to legalize miscarriage leave. The Maternity Benefit Act 1961 states that in case of miscarriage, a woman will be entitled to paid leave for six weeks immediately following the day of her miscarriage. Women are required to submit proof of miscarriage and willful termination of pregnancy (abortion) is excluded.

Women with illness arising out of miscarriage shall, on production are also entitled to paid leave of up to one month on submission of relevant medical proofs.

Though India is a developing country, it believes in - Women’s Rights are Human Rights!

Very few sections of people know about all these Indian abortion laws. This is a reminder to all the Indian women out there that you have rights, you should know them and use them, if need be. No one can tell you what to do. It's your body!

(This article is based on a Twitter thread)