Earlier this week, the central government endorsed an amendment in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (1971), raising the upper limit of pregnancy termination from 20 weeks to 24 weeks. The bill is slated to be tabled for amendment during the current session of Parliament that began on January 31.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the amendment would reduce maternity-related deaths and said, "In a progressive reform and giving reproductive rights to women, the limit of 20 weeks of medical termination of pregnancy has been increased to 24 weeks. This is important because in the first five months, there are cases where the woman concerned doesn't realise and has to go to court."
This amendment is surely a step in the right direction. In a country like India, where abortion is associated with stigma, and considered a social tattoo, if implemented, this amendment would grant confidentiality to all women seeking an abortion.
It will also give a woman the opportunity to terminate her pregnancy if foetal abnormalities are detected within six months (24 weeks) of her pregnancy. In recent years, several PILs have been filed seeking abortions, many of which sought a raise in the upper limit for foetal abnormalities.
As Javadekar said, it will also help under-aged rape survivors who often do not understand that they are pregnant in the early months like it happened in the case of a 10-year-old rape survivor from Chandigarh (in 2017), whose parents only became aware of the sexual abuse, as well as the pregnancy, after 20 weeks.
According to the Lancet Global Health report, 15.6 million abortions occurred in 2015 in India, of which 78% were not conducted inside health facilities. If the amendment finally takes place, it will definitely be a step towards making abortions safer for women. However, it comes attached with a few caveats.
Much like the 1971 MTP Act, which required a physician's permission for abortion to happen, this amendment suggests anyone seeking abortion between 20-24 weeks will need the approval of two physicians to go through the process, which makes this process far less accessible for many women, especially women from the marginalised sections and rural communities, who may not have access to any medical practitioners.
Also, if a pregnancy has to be terminated between the 5th (20 weeks) and 6th month (24 weeks) due to foetal abnormalities, the permission of a medical board is required, which again may be hard for many to access, and for those who can, it might be a long bureaucratic process, making the abortion a very cumbersome process.
In India, unfortunately, there are several factors such as social stigma, lack of information about abortion rights, high prices of contraceptives and reluctance of medical practitioners to perform abortion which impact women's reproductive rights.
In most cases, medical institutions or practitioners are wary to perform an abortion, because if the woman seeking the abortion does not comply with the MTP Act, then it becomes a criminal offence, and those involved become an accomplice.
It is perhaps the reluctance of doctors to help that compels many women to seek abortion outside institutionalised health care places and often endanger their lives.
According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 10-13% of maternity-related deaths are associated with botched-up abortions. Yet, as compared to many other countries, India already has a good abortion law in place, which may be pedantic, but is still liberal and if this amendment happens, it will also grant legal abortion on humanitarian, social, as well as therapeutic grounds.
However, unlike China, Canada, Australia and some other countries, India is yet to grant abortion on request. What makes things worse is although the law and the proposed amendment that has been backed by the Centre sound great on paper, their implementation remain tough given that abortion is still widely stigmatised in India, and there is very little awareness about the laws.
Nevertheless, the amendment, if passed, will be a victory, albeit a small one, for women's reproductive rights.
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