Time To Let Go Of Stigma: How Far Has India Come In Accepting Abortion?

Ratika Rana
11 Feb 2022

Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Day is celebrated on February 12 every year, and it aims to raise awareness about sexual and reproductive health issues and reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Women in India have always been at the receiving end of several social, cultural, institutional and operational challenges in all spectrums. Even after more than five decades of implementing the Maternity Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971, a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy, or abort her child, remains a debatable and taboo issue. More than 15.6 million abortions happen in India, and many of them are unsafe, thus putting a woman's life at risk.

Continued: https://thelogicalindian.com/gender/sexual-reproduction-awareness-day-33905

Unsafe abortions is a critical reproductive health issue in India that needs attention : Debanjana Choudhuri

Pratigya Campaign is focusing on addressing the serious issue of gender-biased sex selection while protecting women’s right to safe and legal abortion services in India.

Written by Shardul Nautiyal
January 17, 2022

In India, the conversation on abortion is riddled by social stigma, lack of registered MTP providers and lack of awareness on laws.

Pratigya Campaign has attempted to bridge the gap by populating a database of approved Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) providers so that pregnant women can connect to a verified provider. Since its inception in late 2020, the database of Pratigya Campaign has been accessed by over 2,000 people.

Continued: https://www.financialexpress.com/healthcare/diagnostic/unsafe-abortions-is-a-critical-reproductive-health-issue-in-india-that-needs-attention-debanjana-choudhuri/2408789/

Abortion in India – still not a right but a privilege

BY MEENAZ KAKALIA
MAY 3, 2021

Critiquing the recently passed Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, MEENAZ KAKALIA draws on trends in previous judicial decisions and her own personal experience as an advocate who has filed several petitions on behalf of women seeking termination of their pregnancies beyond the prescribed period. She explains why medical boards that have now been made a permanent feature of the Act, are problematic, and recommends that abortions should be made a right for women, solely determined by expectant mothers on the basis of informed consent.

THE Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 received Presidential Assent on 25th March 2021. The Act amends the original enactment of 1971 to increase the number of weeks within which a woman can terminate her pregnancy, and provides for certain circumstances in which a pregnancy can be terminated at any stage.

Continued: https://www.theleaflet.in/abortion-in-india-still-not-a-right-but-a-privilege/

India – HCs across states witness surge in abortion cases

Tue, Sep 22 2020

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS): High Courts across the nation are currently witnessing a substantial increase in abortion cases, revealed a legal report on Tuesday.

In 'Assessing the Judiciary's Role in Access to Safe Abortion- II' report by Pratigya campaign, cases seeking permission of termination of pregnancy from the High Courts in India from May 2019 to August were analysed.

There were total 243 cases filed across 14
high courts and one appeal before the Supreme Court. In 84 per cent of the
cases, permissions were given to terminate the pregnancy.

Continued: http://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=753667

India – For a more progressive abortion law

V S Chandrashekar
Sep 19 2020

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Bill 2020 is due to be discussed in an upcoming Rajya Sabha session. This is the second time, in its 49 years of existence, that the MTP Act will be amended. While introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, the Health Minister highlighted the government’s intent to improve access to safe, affordable and legal abortion services for women without compromising on safety, quality of care and more importantly to ensure dignity, autonomy, confidentiality and justice for women who need to terminate their pregnancies.

The Amendment Bill proposes some welcome changes-- it replaces the phrase “married woman and her husband” with “woman and her partner”; increases the upper gestation limit to 20-24 weeks for “certain categories of women”; reduces opinion required for termination of pregnancy between the 12th and 20th week of gestation from two providers to one and removes upper gestation limit for foetal abnormalities ‘necessitated by the diagnosis of a Medical Board.”

Continued: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/in-perspective/for-a-more-progressive-abortion-law-889672.html

India – Why your nearby chemist doesn’t have abortion pills, and why he should stock them

A new study throws light on the availability
of prescription-based medical abortion drugs with chemists as a way to prevent
early abortion care costs among other benefits for women exercising their
choice of terminating pregnancy

Written by Jayashree Narayanan
Published: August 19, 2020

Marking 49 years of the inception of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP)
Act in 1971, a new study out on August 10, 2020 evaluated the availability of
Medical Abortion (MA) drugs in six Indian states to understand the awareness
levels and perceptions of the chemists stocking and selling MA pills.

Despite the passage of the MTP (Amendment) Bill in March 2020 that extended the
upper limit for permitting abortion to 24 weeks from 20 weeks, the
non-availability of MA drugs, which are approved for use up to nine weeks of
pregnancy in India, is seen to be “threatening” to women’s access to safe
abortion and proper reproductive healthcare.

Continued: https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/medical-abortion-pills-mtp-act-chemist-study-6552205/

Pratigya Campaign: overcoming access barriers to safe abortion in India

Pratigya Campaign: overcoming access barriers to safe abortion in India

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Mar 30, 2020

This blog post was written before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Women’s ability to access safe and legal abortion is restricted in law or in practice in many countries around the world. As a result, tens of thousands of women die every year due to the complications arising from unsafe abortion. Access to safe abortion is not just a basic reproductive right, but also an integral part of a woman’s bodily autonomy and integrity.

In India, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 (“MTP Act”) allows women to undergo an abortion up to 20 weeks, subject to certain conditions. The legislation is outdated as it has not kept up with the changing discourse on sexual and reproductive rights and advancements in medical technology. It is estimated that 15.6 million abortions take place annually in India[1], however, there are just 60-70,000 providers who can legally provide abortions under the MTP Act[2] which inevitably leads to a considerable number of unsafe abortions.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/blog/pratigya-campaign-overcoming-access-barriers-to-safe-abortion-in-india/

30.03.2020

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abortion stigma

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971

MTP Act

Pratigya Campaign

Pratigya Campaign for Gender Equality and Safe Abortion

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 – Abortion bill 2020 is good, but not good enough

Abortion bill 2020 is good, but not good enough

Feb 16, 2020
Sanchita Sharma, Hindustantimes

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Bill, 2020, has got several things right. Raising the upper limit of legal abortions from 20 weeks to 24 weeks for “special categories of women”, including rape and incest survivors, other vulnerable women, and children; and completely removing the upper gestation limit for abortion in the cases of substantial foetal abnormalities will help many more seek safe and legal abortion services.

Other positive inclusions are allowing all women, and not just married ones, to legally seek abortions, and striking out the need for the opinion of a second registered practitioner for aborting pregnancies up to 20 weeks. The draft proposes that the opinion of two practitioners will now be needed only for abortions in the 20-24 weeks period.

Continued; https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/abortion-bill-2020-is-good-but-not-good-enough/story-6KVwb0oEpnK7kad12aRSoI.html

INDIA Prime Minister’s Cabinet tables proposal for abortion law reform

FEATURE: INDIA Prime Minister’s Cabinet tables proposal for abortion law reform

14 February 2020
International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion

On 29 January 2020, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Modi published the text of a bill to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The bill is to be introduced in the ensuing session of the Union Parliament, where it will be debated. A summary of the current law, the amendments it proposes, and responses to the bill by leading NGOs working for abortion rights in India are reported below. Text in quotes is taken direct from the source.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971
The 1971 Act says that a pregnancy may be terminated up to 20 weeks of pregnancy with the approval of one registered medical practitioner up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, or the approval of “no less than two registered medical practitioners” from 12 to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Approval must be given “in good faith” that:

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/feature-india-prime-ministers-cabinet-tables-proposal-for-abortion-law-reform-14-february-2020?e=372dd34034