Indian laws on abortions

News: Recently, the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade judgement of 1973. The 1973 judgement gave women in America the right to have an abortion before the foetus is viable outside the womb or before the 24-28 week mark.

According to a 2018 study in the Lancet, 15.6 million abortions were accessed every year in India as of 2015.

What are the key provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act?

The Union government ordered the constitution of the Shantilal Shah Committee to deliberate on the legalisation of abortion in the country. In order to reduce maternal mortality owing to unsafe abortions, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act came into force in 1971. The Act was amended in 2021.

Aim: To reduce maternal mortality owing to unsafe abortions.

The 2021 Act increased the upper limit of the gestation period to which a woman can seek a medical abortion to 24 weeks from 20 weeks permitted in the 1971 Act. But this renewed upper limit can only be exercised in specific cases.

Further, if the pregnancy has to be terminated beyond the 24-week gestational age, it can only be done on the grounds of foetal abnormalities if a four-member Medical Board, as set up in each State under the Act, gives permission to do so.

Exceptions: Indian Penal Code (IPC) provisions 312 and 313.

Under Section 312 of the IPC, a person who “voluntarily causes a woman with child to miscarry” is liable for punishment, attracting a jail term of up to three years or fine or both, unless it was done in good faith where the purpose was to save the life of the pregnant woman.

Under Section 313 of the IPC, a person who causes the miscarriage without the consent of the pregnant woman, whether or not she is the in the advanced stages of her pregnancy, shall be punished with life imprisonment or a jail term that could extend to 10 years, as well as a fine.

What are the judicial interventions in cases of abortions?

Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India and others case, 2017: In this Right to Privacy judgement, the court held that the decision by a pregnant person on whether to continue a pregnancy or not is part of such a person’s right to privacy as well and, therefore, the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

A private report says that, in the 15 months leading up to August 2020, High Courts across the country were hearing 243 petitions of women seeking permission to abort.

What are the challenges associated with the MTP Act?

The MTP Act requires abortion to be performed only by doctors with specialisation in gynaecology or obstetrics. However, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s 2019-20 report on Rural Health Statistics indicates that there is a 70% shortage of obstetrician-gynaecologists in rural India.

The law does not permit abortion at will. This pushes women to access illicit abortions under unsafe conditions. Statistics put the annual number of unsafe and illegal abortions performed in India at 8,00,000, many of them resulting in maternal mortality.

Source: The post is based on the article “Indian laws on abortions” published in “The Hindu” on 27^th June 2022.