India – Ensure Timely Aid To Rape Survivors For Abortion: Rajasthan High Court

Ensure Timely Aid To Rape Survivors For Abortion: Rajasthan High Court
The court said that a pregnant woman, even in a normal situation, has the right to demand termination of pregnancy as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.

Jaipur, Press Trust of India
May 02, 2020

The Rajasthan High Court has directed the state government to frame guidelines to ensure that women who become pregnant due to rape are provided timely legal and medical assistance so they can exercise their reproductive choice in terms of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.

A division bench of justices Sandeep Mehta and PS Bhati gave the direction while hearing a special writ petition filed by the state government challenging a decision by a single bench, which had rejected the plea of a minor rape survivor of Churu seeking termination of her pregnancy stating "the foetus in womb had a right to life as guaranteed under Article 21 of the constitution".

Continued: https://www.ndtv.com/jaipur-news/ensure-timely-aid-to-rape-survivors-for-abortion-rajasthan-high-court-2222316

India – The amendments in the MTP Act bill are flawed| Analysis

The amendments in the MTP Act bill are flawed| Analysis
A woman’s right to reproductive freedom remains subordinated to the medical and legal regime

Feb 28, 2020
Vrinda Grover

The Union Cabinet’s approval of the Amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971, in January, sets the stage for a small though belated step forward. In a country where unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of maternal mortality, taking a toll of 13 lives each day, the law and the health system will need to do much more than the proposed MTP Amendments Bill, 2020.

It is a welcome amendment that the bill inter alia proposes to place an unmarried woman and her partner at par with a married woman and her husband, in securing abortion due to contraceptive failure. Jurisprudentially, this carries forward the rationale of the law against domestic violence which makes no distinction between the rights and protections available to a woman, whether in marriage or a live-in relationship. This recognition of women’s sexual agency will encourage access to safe abortion facilities as the stigma is erased.

Continued: https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/the-amendments-in-the-mtp-act-bill-are-flawed-analysis/story-H0DZJUAWWopQZKPzbLXyJL.html

India – A deliverance: On pregnancy termination bill

A deliverance: On pregnancy termination bill

January 31, 2020

Extending the period of medical termination of pregnancy to 24 weeks is a boon for many

The borders of viability of a particular process are often only as restrictive as the technology on which it rides. In some cases, as science advances, the elastic borders of viability will weave out to accommodate much more than they did in the past. The Centre’s move to extend the limit of medical termination of pregnancy to 24 weeks is a sagacious recognition of this, and needs to be feted. The extension is significant, the government reasoned, because in the first five months of pregnancy, some women realise the need for an abortion very late. Usually, the foetal anomaly scan is done during the 20th-21st week of pregnancy. If there is a delay in doing this scan, and it reveals a lethal anomaly in the foetus, 20 weeks is limiting. Obstetricians argue that this has also spurred a cottage industry of places providing unsafe abortion services, even leading, in the worst of cases, to the death of the mother.

Continued: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/a-deliverance-the-hindu-editorial-on-pregnancy-termination-bill/article30695656.ece

31.01.2020

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India – The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Posted on 30 January, 2020
by Suchitra Dalvie, Asia Safe Abortion Partnership

Many of us greeted the news with cautious optimism when we heard that yesterday the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister had approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The Bill will be introduced in the ensuing session of the Parliament. But on reading the details of the amendments proposed one is forced to wonder if this is just fussing around over minor details while continuing to ignore the larger issues of women’s autonomy and agency?

For these amendments to truly bring about wide ranging change we must remember one crucial thing about true change—it happens only with a shift in power. Until the archaic patriarchal notions of the need to criminalize various sexual and reproductive aspects of our lives (such as Section 377 in the Indian Penal Code) are done away with, any legislation like the MTP Act which is mainly meant to protect the doctors and not the women involved, is not likely to result in genuine change.

Continued: https://asap-asia.org/blog/the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same/

India – Abortion a right not privilege. On Safe Abortion Day, govt must consider amending MTP Act

Abortion a right not privilege. On Safe Abortion Day, govt must consider amending MTP Act
In 1971, India became one of the first countries to legalise abortion, but today its healthcare system is lagging behind and doing a great disservice to women.

Nozer Sheriar
Updated: 28 September, 2019

Forty-eight years ago, in 1971, when conversations about women’s reproductive health and rights were still in nascent stages across the world, India became one of the first countries to ensure that women have access to a crucial reproductive health need — that of having a safe, legal abortion.

Today, however, India’s laws and systems have lagged behind and we are doing a great disservice to the women in our country by limiting their control over their wombs because of challenges discussed here.

Continued: https://theprint.in/opinion/abortion-a-right-not-privilege-on-safe-abortion-day-modi-govt-must-consider-amending-mtp-act/298238/

India – Abortion post 20 weeks not only woman’s call: Centre to Supreme Court

Abortion post 20 weeks not only woman's call: Centre to Supreme Court
Centre tells SC law must safeguard against female foeticide

Written By Abraham Thomas
Updated: Sep 22, 2019

Amid the raging debate over whether the State should control the choice of a pregnant woman to abort a foetus beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy, the Centre has said that the decision cannot "absolutely" rest with the woman alone.

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Saturday, via an affidavit, that instances of unsafe abortion and female infanticide are a matter of concern and any decision to increase the 20-week period has to be taken while balancing the interest of the health of both woman and foetus.

Continued: https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-abortion-post-20-weeks-not-only-woman-s-call-centre-to-supreme-court-2791476

22.09.2019

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India – HC seeks Centre’s response on plea for raising abortion time period

HC seeks Centre’s response on plea for raising abortion time period
‘Lack of legal approval, unhygienic conditions put many at risk’

Staff Reporter
New Delhi, May 29, 2019

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking to raise the time period for terminating pregnancy in case of health risk to the mother or the foetus from the current cap of 20 weeks to 24-26 weeks.

A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Brijesh Sethi sought responses from the Health and Law Ministries, and the National Commission for Women on the plea.

Continued: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/hc-seeks-centres-response-on-plea-for-raising-abortion-time-period/article27279954.ece

29.05.2019

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Let’s Talk About The Long Overdue Reforms Needed In The Abortion Laws Of India

Let’s Talk About The Long Overdue Reforms Needed In The Abortion Laws Of India

By Nyaaya
November 22, 2018
Posted by Malavika Rajkumar

A 35-year-old pregnant rape victim discovers that she is HIV positive in her 17th week of pregnancy. She approaches a government shelter, an approved place to conduct an abortion, but is denied the abortion. They demand parental and spousal consent, even though under the law, a woman above the age of 18, does not need such consent.

She approaches the High Court only to have the High Court deny the request. She’s 26 weeks pregnant by the time the case reaches the Supreme Court which recognises the improper treatment she has been subject to, but ultimately denies the abortion because under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, she had crossed the 20 week limit for abortion.

Continued: https://feminisminindia.com/2018/11/22/abortion-laws-reforms-india/

India: Woman moves HC to abort 27-week foetus

Woman moves HC to abort 27-week foetus
J.J. Hospital medical board to examine woman today, submit report on January 8

Sonam Saigal
Mumbai, January 03

A woman has moved the Bombay High Court seeking permission to abort her 27-week-old foetus, which suffers from heart, brain and gastrointestinal anomalies.

Shaikh Ayesha Khatoon approached the Vacation Bench of Justice Sandeep Shinde stating that an ultrasound test on December 26, 2017 revealed that her foetus was 27 weeks and 4 days old, which was beyond the permissible abortion limit of 20 weeks.

continued at source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/woman-moves-hc-to-abort-27-week-foetus/article22361931.ece

03.01.2018