India – MTP Act: More needs to be done to make the Amendments meaningful for women

MTP Act: More needs to be done to make the Amendments meaningful for women

The Parliament’s approval of the Medical Termination Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020, is an outcome of several years of multi stakeholder consultations and comes after multiple petitions in the Supreme Court and High Courts of India. The changes to the law come at a time when 10 women die every day as a result of unsafe abortion.

Mar 20, 2020
Vinoj Manning

India legalized abortion in 1971 with the passage of the MTP Act, a law considered much ahead of its time. However, it is obsolete now given the societal changes and advancements in preconception diagnostics, fetal screening and abortion technologies. The current amendments address some of these – they now allow unmarried women to seek safe abortion services on grounds of contraceptive failure and re-emphasize maintaining confidentiality for all women undergoing termination of pregnancy, thereby making it easier for single women to access these services.

Continued: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/health-files/mtp-act-more-needs-to-be-done-to-make-the-amendments-meaningful-for-wome/4108

20.03.2020

Medical Termination Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2020

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 – More awareness needed on safe abortion methods

More awareness needed on safe abortion methods
A large number of women are unaware of their rights to abortion

Pooja Biraia Jaiswal
April 10, 2019

According to data disclosed by the Delhi health department in a recent RTI reply, only one in ten abortions in the city are reported, while over 50,000 termination of pregnancies have taken place in the last five years. This is essentially due to a lack of data on the number of maternal deaths resulting from abortions. Although abortion is legal in India and is regulated under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, the lack of awareness about it and the stigma attached to it, have led a number of women resort to unsafe and non-medical methods of abortions which prove to be fatal and life threatening. A woman can safely terminate her pregnancy upto 20 weeks of gestation under the supervision and guidance of one or two medical practitioners and for those who want to terminate it beyond 20 weeks, must seek approval from the courts.

Continued: https://www.theweek.in/news/health/2019/04/10/more-awareness-needed-on-safe-abortion-methods.html

10.04.2019

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

MOGS

MTP Act

Mumbai Obstetric and Gynecological Society

Extensive New Body of Evidence on Abortion in Six Indian States Released

Extensive New Body of Evidence on Abortion in Six Indian States Released
Data Available on Abortion Incidence, Access to and Quality of Safe Abortion Services

Nov 12, 2018

Abortion has been legal under broad criteria in India since 1971, yet representative information on abortion incidence and access to abortion services in the country has been scarce. The results of a large-scale study titled Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion in India have now been released, filling a critical evidence gap. The results of the study—which was conducted jointly by researchers at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, the Population Council, New Delhi, and the New York–based Guttmacher Institute—include a wide range of data on abortion in six Indian states: Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These states are geographically and culturally diverse, and are home to nearly half of reproductive-age women in India.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2018/extensive-new-body-evidence-abortion-six-indian-states-released

India – ‘Reduce Stigma To Make Women Comfortable Accessing Safe Abortions’

‘Reduce Stigma To Make Women Comfortable Accessing Safe Abortions’

Swagata Yadavar
August 7, 2018

New Delhi: Abortion was legalised in India almost half a century ago, yet unsafe abortions – performed in unhygienic conditions by untrained providers – are the third largest cause of maternal death. Nearly 78% of the more than 15 million abortions conducted annually in India are outside of health facilities, giving rise to safety concerns. There is only one licensed provider for 224,000 women in rural areas.

India allows medical termination of a pregnancy of up to 20 weeks’ gestation to be conducted by a registered medical practitioner. There have been attempts to amend the act to expand the provider base to include nurses and non-allopathic medicine practitioners, and extend the deadline to 24 weeks from the current 20.

Continued: http://www.indiaspend.com/indiaspend-interviews/reduce-stigma-to-make-women-comfortable-accessing-safe-abortions-88950