Anushka MehtaCo-Founder, Rightantra Globally, most countries restrict the right to abortion, permitting termination of pregnancies only in specific situations, while six counties ban abortion entirely. Out of these, the law regulating abortions in India is one of the most progressive legislations, especially in light of the recently notified amendments vide the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 (“MTP Amendment Act”) as well as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Rules, 2021 (“MTP Amendment Rules”). While India has been legally permitting abortions since 1971, the increase in upper gestational limits by the MTP Amendment Act and Rules, is another step in the right direction. The MTP Amendment Act has led to an increase in the time frame during which an abortion can be undertaken from 12 weeks to 20 weeks, based on the opinion of only one medical practioner as compared to the previous requirement of the opinion of two practioners. The notification of the MTP Amendment Rules has been another landmark towards upholding the reproductive rights of women, since it further increases the gestational limit upto 24 weeks for abortions to for women in specific enumerrated cases.
Necessity of Amendments A study by the Lancet estimated that nearly half of India’s annual 48.1 million pregnancies are unintended, of which a majority end in abortion. This indicates that a large percentage of pregnancies end in abortion, which could be for various reasons, including but not limited to physiological conditions, failure of contraceptive devices, or psychological conditions. The law in force prior to the MTP Amendment Act and Rules restricted abortions to situations where the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury physical or mental health, or where 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. This excluded a strata of women who equally needed abortions due to forced pregnancies or financial hardships, which has now been rectified after the notification of the MTP Amendment Act and Rules. Another reason for the 2021 amendments to be brought about was the figures put forth by the All-India Rural Health Statistics (2019-20), which indicates there are only 1,591 gynaecologists and obstetricians in community health clinics in rural areas across India. This means that we fall short of 3,611, which signifies a 69.7% shortage of qualified doctors. Further, a large number of petitions were pending before the Supreme Court and High Courts by women seeking to terminate pregnancies that had passed the 20-week ceiling as imposed previously by law. In order to combat these judicial delays as well as medical insufficiencies, the MTP Amendment Act and Rules provided for the creation of a Medical Board, which decides on the termination of pregnancies beyond 24 weeks after due consideration of safety and risk to the mother as well as fetus. Resultant Effect post Amendment The Amendment Act and Rules are a landmark in the global narrative around abortion regulation. The following are changes brought about by the amendments,
The way forward It cannot be denied that the MTP Amendment Act and Rules are a positive measure towards safeguarding the reproductive rights of women and promulgating safe abortions. However, the fact still remains that the woman’s agency in decision making about her own body takes a backseat to law, which require abortion to be carried out only based on the opinion of medical authorities if certain criteria are satisfied. In 2017, a nine-judge Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, in the landmark Puttaswamy v. Union of India judgment on the right to privacy, held that the right to have an abortion is a facet of the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21. This would entail the right to control one’s health and body, including sexual and reproductive freedom. Unfortunately, neither the MTP Amendment Act nor Rules take into account a woman’s autonomy over her body- instead, bestowing this function on a Medical Board. This has been heavily criticised since in practicality, reports state that the Medical Boards act beyond their mandate, which is ambiguously worded. Nonetheless, the MTP Amendment and Rules are a guiding light for future reforms that will hopefully grant women the autonomy they deserve, since ring-fencing the rights of women can never be a solution. References: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/policy/the-new-abortion-rules-reaffirm-indias-commitment-to-womens-reproductive-rights/87475558 https://www.theleaflet.in/abortion-in-india-still-not-a-right-but-a-privilege/
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
December 2021
|