Are the Amendments made to the abortion law in India Progressive enough?

 

 Shubhangi Singh

O P Jindal Law School, Haryana.

Abortion, across the world, still considered to be  sensitive issue that many countries are still struggling with. We see different countries setting different rules and putting up different conditions for women to go through the process of Abortion. Some seem to be more liberal about while there are some treating the issue of Abortion as a taboo, we also come across some countries that coyly try to portray themselves as liberal while dealing with this topic but the reality comes out to be different. Recently, India brought certain amendments to the “Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971” that without a doubt is progressive movement taken by the country but when we get to the crux of it, we can notice that we still have a long way to go in order to give the Freedom that every Woman deserves when it comes to her “Reproductive Rights”.

This Amendment has increased the upper gestation limit to 24 weeks as compared to before that was 20 weeks. The term “by any married woman or her husband” is replaced with “any woman or her partner” which concludes that even an unmarried woman will be able to terminate her pregnancy but there are conditions attached to it. For any woman to terminate her pregnancy will be needing an opinion of one “Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP)” if the gestation period is up to 20 weeks. Beyond that i.e. 20-24 weeks, will require an opinion of two Medical Practitioners and in case of termination

of Pregnancy beyond 24 weeks will require an opinion of “State Level Medical

Board” only in case of Foetal Abnormalities. So only when a woman is diagnosed

with certain abnormalities in foetus, will be allowed to terminate her

Pregnancy beyond 24 weeks otherwise the only other way is filing a “Writ

Petition”, even in the case of Rape Victims. The changes are not only limited

to the gestation period limit but also ensure a safer access to women who wants

to terminate their pregnancy and safeguard their honour, provides secrecy along

with autonomy which will save many women’s lives who go through unsafe

abortions due to restricted time period.

Well, all these changes can be seen from two different

lenses and it is up to people to decide which one they would want to wear. Yes,

the changes are progressive as compared to the one before but does it solve all

the problem here? Does all the problems disappear as soon as the amendments are

made? Even in 2022, women will have to rely on someone else’s opinion to decide

what they want to do with their body. A woman cannot even terminate the

pregnancy on her Will or choice even though she is the one carrying it. The

Medical Practitioner whose opinion can affect a woman in so many ways is still

a human like you and me. A human tend to make mistakes sometimes but here that

mistake can bring a drastic change in a woman’s life. This Act is criticized by

many keeping a pregnancy or not keeping it should be a woman’s choice and

nobody other than the expecting mother should be the one deciding how she would

want to go about it. There are also people who support the Act believing that

these are the steps taken by the State to safeguard women’s life but there

seems to be no reason for doing that. If it allows abortions to women beyond 24

weeks if they fall into special category i.e. rape victims or incest victims or

any other vulnerable category, proves that Indian Health system is capable

enough to safely terminate pregnancy beyond 24 weeks then there is no logical

reason to make women go through all these complicated and unnecessary procedure

to make decision for her own body. Just Abnormalities of Foetus shouldn’t be

the only reason for women to terminate pregnancy. Sometimes there are reasons

like Demise of Partner or financial issues or abusive household and many other

that lead to a decision of abortion. The Act also has a qualifier of “grave

injury to physical or psychological wellness or extreme physical or mental

irregularity of the baby” which makes the women take the backseat as they are

required help of Law in order to abort. It blatantly ignored the fact that it is

the mother’s womb that carries the baby so her physical and mental wellness

should be the top priority.

Yes, this Act is surely a progressive step but it also

brings many conditions with it which only makes us go one step backward. There

are already greater issues that require Law’s attention than making a woman go

through such painful process so that they can take decision for her body. With

time there is a need to break the barriers that has restricted women in so many

other ways and let them live how they want to because nobody is here putting

restrictions on Men’s Reproductive Law then there is no logical reason to put

women through so much trouble.

CITATIONS-

1.      Vishakha, MTP Act 2021- A Critical Analysis, Women’s Web, Dec 13th, 2021, https://www.womensweb.in/2021/12/mtp-act-2021-a-critical-analysis/

2.      Saurabh Kumar, MTP (Amendment) Act 2021: A Critical Appraisal, Jurisedge, April 16th, 2022, https://jurisedge.com/academy/2022/04/16/the-mtp-amendment-act-2021-a-critical-appraisal/

3.      Punyata Kakkar, New Abortion Rule under the Medical Termination Amendment Act 2021, The Lawmatics, Dec 3rd, 2021, https://thelawmatics.in/new-abortion-rules-under-the-medical-termination-amendment-act-2021/