Abortion Options for Indian Women: Is the New MTP (Amendment) Bill, 2020 Better and Safer?

Deepika Singhania, MAKERS India
28 November 2020

Getting an abortion in India is not just about finding the right doctor who can perform the procedure in a safe manner and through legal methods, it’s also about dealing with the stigma and navigating the laws around it. Though we may be living in 2020, if an Indian woman seeks termination of pregnancy even today, she can not do so openly without judgment and people trying to change her mind.

Says 26-year-old Mithila (name changed), “When I got pregnant, my boyfriend and I couldn’t talk to our friends or family about it. So, we looked up a gynaecologist online. As expected, we got lectured about having sex before marriage and got asked the dreaded question – do your parents know?” The doctor refused to perform the termination and as luck would have it, they found a different doctor who turned out to be very supportive.

Continued: https://in.makers.yahoo.com/abortion-options-for-indian-women-is-the-new-mtp-amendment-bill-2020-better-and-safer-030017248.html

India – Lockdown Effect: Spike In Unplanned Babies, Abortions

Lack of access to contraceptives and family planning services during the COVID-19 induced lockdowns led to an alarming rise in the pregnancy rate across the nation, which in turn led to numerous abortions.

Lola Nayar
Aug 11, 2020

A sudden rise in pregnancies, with over a million ending in abortions, is feared as COVID led lockdown eases and health services resume. The fear is not baseless as ahead of the lockdown, a study in six states revealed poor availability of family planning devices and safe abortion options. Long months of lockdown, leading to enforced homebound status and intimacy sans contraceptives has not helped, states VS Chandrashekar, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for Reproductive Health Services India (FRHS India) and Pratigya Campaign Advisory Group member.

“We are definitely expecting a baby boom in India with many not being able to access their choice of contraceptives. Across the country it is estimated that around 27 million couples were not able to access contraceptives,” says Chandrashekar.

Continued: https://poshan.outlookindia.com/story/poshan-news-lockdown-effect-spike-in-unplanned-babies-abortions/358467

11.08.2020

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India – Survey shows acute shortage of medical abortion pills in many states

The non-stocking of medical abortion drugs seems to be linked to overregulation by drug control authorities, said authorities.

Published: 10th August 2020
By Sumi Sukanya Dutta, Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A survey to assess the availability of the medical abortion pills in six states has shown its acute shortage in most of the states, triggering concerns of a sharp rise in unwanted pregnancies in the coming months.

The study by the Foundation for Reproductive Health Services India (FRSHI) involving 1500 chemists found that there was an overwhelming shortage of the drugs in five out of the six states surveyed with abysmal stocking in Madhya Pradesh (6.5%), Punjab (1.0%), Tamil Nadu (2.0%), Haryana (2.0%), and Delhi (34.0%).

Continued: https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/aug/10/survey-shows-acute-shortage-of-medical-abortion-pills-in-many-states-2181582.html

India – A pregnant silence on reproductive rights of women

A pregnant silence on reproductive rights of women
The country needs to recognise the wrongs and affirm the rights for advancing women’s sexual and reproductive health

Monday, 25 November 2019
Prabhleen Tuteja

Young women (15-24 years) constitute 11 per cent of India’s population, out of whom 41 per cent have faced sexual violence, 27 per cent are married before the legal age and 7.8 per cent (15-19 years) become mothers or are pregnant. The data on access to information on contraceptives reveals that only 17.7 per cent were informed about family planning by health workers and just 6.9 per cent women in Bihar and 11.6 per cent in Uttar Pradesh (UP) reported using contraceptives within marriage.

The policy level commitments on health, education and gender parity often look in absolute terms of changing certain societal norms through cash transfer based schemes, number of girls reported to be married before the legal age of marriage, status of body mass index and nutrition and sometimes enrollment in school and skill development among women. While evidence in these parameters are significant, this skewed approach to gender equality leaves out a range of issues, including prevalence of sexual violence and status of accessible sexual and reproductive health services. Stigma and fear attached to young women’s sexuality act as a major barrier in achieving gender equality.

Continued: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2019/columnists/a-pregnant-silence-on-reproductive-rights-of-women.html