{"id":56552,"date":"2020-03-04T15:12:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T09:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=56552"},"modified":"2020-03-04T15:12:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T09:42:05","slug":"answered-critically-examine-salient-features-of-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-amendment-bill-2020","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-critically-examine-salient-features-of-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-amendment-bill-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] Critically examine salient features of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"\"><tbody><tr><td>\n <strong>Demand of the question<\/strong>\n <strong>Introduction.\n <\/strong>Contextual introduction.\n <strong>Body.\n <\/strong>Discuss salient features of Medical Termination\n of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Discuss its importance and various\n issues.\n <strong>Conclusion.\n <\/strong>Way forward.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Medical Termination of Pregnancy\n(Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,\n1971. The bill aims to reduce not only unsafe abortions but also ensure that\nvulnerable women get every right to decide about her pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Salient\nfeatures of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Increased gestation limit:&nbsp;<\/strong>The bill\nhas enhanced the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special\ncategories of women. It would include vulnerable women including survivors of\nrape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women (like differently-abled\nwomen, minors) etc.<\/li><li><strong>Opinion of professional:&nbsp;<\/strong>Bill has\nproposed a requirement of the opinion of one doctor for termination of\npregnancy, up to 20 weeks of gestation and introducing the requirement of\nopinion of two doctors for termination of pregnancy for 20-24 weeks of gestation.<\/li><li><strong>Medical board:&nbsp;<\/strong>Upper gestation\nlimit will not apply in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities diagnosed by\nthe Medical Board. The composition, functions and other details of the Medical\nBoard to be prescribed subsequently in Rules under the Act.<\/li><li><strong>Identity protection:&nbsp;<\/strong>Name and other\nparticulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be\nrevealed except to a person authorised in any law for the time being in force.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Importance\nof Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Reproductive rights: <\/strong>The Supreme Court has recognised women\u2019s right\nto make reproductive choices and their decision to abort as a dimension of\ntheir personal liberty (in <em>Mrs. X v.\nUnion of India<\/em>, <em>2017<\/em>) and as\nfalling within the realm of the fundamental right to privacy (in <em>K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India<\/em>, <em>2017<\/em>).The bill will strengthen reproductive\nrights of women.<strong><\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Sexual abuse:&nbsp;<\/strong>In case of rape, the\nwoman is weak or underage. Such girls don\u2019t even know they are pregnant and\nfall prey of unsafe abortion practices. It is important to allow abortion of\npregnancies due to sexual violence faced by women as they have every right to\nchoose what they want. Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020\naims to expand access of women to safe and legal abortion services on\ntherapeutic, humanitarian or social grounds.<\/li><li><strong>Access to safe abortion:&nbsp;<\/strong>According\nto a study published in the Lancet Global Health, 15.6 million abortions\noccurred in India in 2015 of which 78% of these were outside health facilities.\nMortality of pregnant women is about 8% due to unsafe abortions. The bill will\nhelp women getting access to safe abortion. <\/li><li><strong>Need of change:&nbsp;<\/strong>The existing MTP\nAct, 1971, has not kept pace with the changing times, needs and advancements in\nmedical science. More women are now approaching the Courts to seek approval for\nabortion over 20 weeks, a provision that has been made available in a number of\ncountries around the world.<\/li><li><strong>Judicial burden:<\/strong> The proposed amendments\nwill definitely reduce the burden on the judiciary, especially given the\nplethora of cases seeking permission for abortion beyond the prescribed\nduration of 20 weeks.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Issues\nin the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Lack of autonomy: <\/strong>At all stages of the pregnancy, the healthcare providers,\nrather than the women seeking abortion, have the final say on whether the\nabortion can be carried out. This is unlike the abortion laws in 67 countries,\nincluding Iceland, France, Canada, where a woman can get an abortion \u2018on\nrequest\u2019 with or without a specific gestational limit. Thus there is a lack of autonomy in making the\ndecision to terminate their pregnancy.<\/li><li><strong>Burden on women: <\/strong>To get a pregnancy terminated solely based on her will, the\nwoman may be compelled to lie or plead with the doctor. Pregnant women have to\nbear additional mental stress, as well as the financial burden of getting a\ndoctor\u2019s approval.<\/li><li><strong>Limited option: <\/strong>Due to advancements in science, foetal abnormalities can\neven be detected even after 24 weeks. This means that even if a substantial\nfoetal abnormality is detected and the mother doesn\u2019t want to bear life-long\nresponsibilities and the mental agony associated with it, the law gives her no\nrecourse. Bill doesn\u2019t allow\nabortion on request at any point after the pregnancy.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Access to doctor: <\/strong>The 24-week modification will help a niche group of women\nwho discover foetal abnormalities. Such women have access to doctors. But there\nare concerns about those who have no access to doctors. Millions of rural women\nhave do not have access to a\nsafe and transparent route to abortion and doctor recommendation. Thus they\nwould suffer as the bill makes the doctor recommendation final without exception.<\/li><li><strong>Lack of information: <\/strong>The major reason for unwanted pregnancies is\ninadequate information about the contraception available. Rural Indian women\nare far behind when it comes to awareness of methods like IUDs and injectable.\nThus, after pregnancy, an unsafe abortion is often the way out for them.\nAvailability of improved contraceptives and easy access to friendly and\ncompetent staff is a big gap which needs to be filled.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>India is changing rapidly and people&#8217;s\nneeds and their lives are no longer similar to what was in the 70s when this\nAct was passed. It is must to ensure that all norms and standardised protocols\nin clinical practice facilitate safe abortions across the country. This is\nimperative if we need to ensure that every one who needs it, can legally access\nsafe abortions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Demand of the question Introduction. Contextual introduction. Body. Discuss salient features of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Discuss its importance and various issues. Conclusion. Way forward. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The bill aims to reduce not only unsafe abortions&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-critically-examine-salient-features-of-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-amendment-bill-2020\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">[Answered] Critically examine salient features of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56552","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}