India: It’s about time to bring abortion out of dingy alley, stigma

It’s about time to bring abortion out of dingy alley, stigma
Jan 23, 2017
by Sanchita Sharma

The Supreme Court on Monday relaxed the 20-week legal ceiling on abortion to allow a woman to abort her 24-week baby with anencephaly, a life-threatening congenital defect where a baby is born without parts of the brain, skull and scalp.

India’s Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act legalises abortions up to 20 weeks if there is threat to the mother’s life or her physical or mental health, or if the unborn baby has abnormalities, but many women end up using unsafe abortions methods because they don’t know where or who to go because there are not enough legal providers. Many don’t even know it’s legal to abort up to 20 weeks.

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Source, Hindustan Times: http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/it-s-about-time-to-bring-abortion-out-of-dingy-alley-stigma/story-BPTSEuapnlHCwg4HT3buIK.html