Abortion in India: legal, but not a woman’s right

On the surface, India has one of the world’s highest abortion rates and most progressive abortion laws, but this hides a tangle of issues that prevent many women from accessing safe abortion. Geetanjali Krishna reports

BMJ 2022; 379
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o2733
13 December 2022
Geetanjali Krishna, freelance journalist

“I wanted to be sterilised when my second set of twins was born,” says Maina Devi. “But my family said that life in our village is too uncertain for such things.”

Devi is a 25 year old farmer from Jamunipur, a hamlet in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, who has two sets of twins under 5 years of age. Her husband refuses to use contraception. She’s not aware that, during her second pregnancy, she could have opted for abortion on the grounds of contraceptive failure. All she does now is pray that she doesn’t get pregnant again.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/379/bmj.o2733

13.12.2022

Commentary

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abortion up to 24 weeks

Anusha Pilli

Geetanjali Krishna

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

Supreme Court of India

Celebrations before new challenges after Colombia legalizes abortion

February 22, 2022
By Irene Escudero, La Prensa Latina

Bogotá, Feb 22 (EFE).- The emotion of the Colombian Constitutional Court’s historic decision to decriminalize abortion up to 24 weeks continued Tuesday with celebrations of those who pushed for the change, along with the realization of the challenges that lie ahead.

Again in front of the headquarters of the court in Bogotá, but this time without the nerves accumulated during the more than 500 days spent waiting for the decision, more than 100 young women, with their characteristic green scarves, chanted: “It’s legal, it’s legal, abortion in Colombia is legal.”

Continued: https://www.laprensalatina.com/celebrations-before-new-challenges-after-colombia-legalizes-abortion/

Why Proposed Amendment to Abortion Law is Small But Significant Victory for Women’s Reproductive Rights

Why Proposed Amendment to Abortion Law is Small But Significant Victory for Women's Reproductive Rights
Although the law and the proposed amendment 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.

Simantini Dey
February 1, 2020

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."

Continued: https://www.news18.com/news/india/why-proposed-amendment-to-abortion-law-may-mean-little-victory-for-womens-reproductive-rights-in-india-2482739.html

01.02.2020