Laws regarding Medical Termination of Pregnancy

Terminating a pregnancy or abortion is considered an age-old taboo in India. It is almost considered murder because it involves terminating a child before it is even born. If any woman would go through an abortion then people would look at her with disgust and call her a murderer because of it. There were no laws regarding abortion which led to difficulty in getting an abortion legally. Approaching a doctor for an abortion would be difficult because no doctor would be ready to medically terminate a pregnancy considering it akin to murder and even rebuking the woman for even thinking about killing her child.

In 1971, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was introduced by the Government. This Act stated that a registered medical practitioner can medically terminate a woman's pregnancy. A registered medical practitioner is defined as a medical practitioner who has a medical qualification under clause (h) of Section 2 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and whose name has been mentioned in the State Medical Register, and who has experience or training in gynecology and obstetrics as prescribed. This Act also talks about hen pregnancy may be terminated as per the opinion of the registered medical practitioner. 

As per Section 3, pregnancy can be medically terminated if the pregnancy does not exceed 12 weeks or when the pregnancy exceeds 12 weeks but not more than 20 weeks if two or more registered medical practitioners is of the opinion that continuing this pregnancy would be risky and would cause grave injury to physical and mental health or there is a substantial risk for the child if he/she is born and it would suffer from physical abnormalities or be handicapped. If a woman becomes pregnant due to rape, the misery experienced by the woman would come under the concept of grave injury to her health. If a woman alleges that her pregnancy is unwanted due to failure of using a device that would limit the number of children, the resulting misery caused by such pregnancy would also come under the concept of grave injury to her health. The environment wherein a pregnant woman resides will also be taken into consideration to check whether there is a grave injury to her mental or physical health. No pregnancy would be terminated if the woman has attained pregnancy below the age of 18 years or if the pregnant woman is a lunatic except with the written consent of her guardian. 

Section 4 states that pregnancy should be terminated at a hospital established or maintained by the Government or at any other place as approved by the Government. 

Sections 3 and 4 do not apply when 2 or more registered medical practitioners opine in good faith that aborting a child is the only way to save the pregnant woman. These sections also do not apply when the person giving the opinion is not a registered medical practitioner. 

Recently there has been a dire need to amend this Act so the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced. The main reasons for introducing this Bill are as follows:

1. This Act does not meet the demands of advanced technology. Technology is changing every day and this Act fails to keep up with such diverse technology.

2. This Act requires the consent of a guardian to medically terminate a pregnancy if the pregnant woman is below 18 years of age or when the woman is above the age of majority but is lunatic. This bill would remove this provision and let the pregnant woman alone decide.

3. Any woman who wants to terminate her pregnancy after 20 weeks has to face various legal complications so this bill seeks to increase the time period from 20 weeks to 24 weeks.

4. There are various legal loopholes in the current Act. This Bill would simplify these loopholes.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced in Lok Sabha in 2020 for safer termination of pregnancy. The following are the important provisions of the bill:

1. The bill seeks to maintain the confidentiality of pregnant women who have medically terminated their pregnancies except in case the identity is asked for by an authorised person of law.

2. The bill seeks to include pregnant women who are physically disabled, rape victims, incest victims, or minors.

3. The bill seeks to include the opinion of 2 or more medical practitioners in case a woman wants to terminate a pregnancy after 20 weeks.

4. The bill seeks to increase the time period of medically terminating her pregnancy from 12 weeks to 20 weeks.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is a new ray of hope for women who want to safely and conveniently terminate their pregnancies so it should not take much time to convert this bill into an Act so that every woman can derive equal benefits from it. The law regarding abortion is still at a nascent stage but this Act will be the beginning of a progressive and dynamic shift for pregnant women.