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rule, the foetus should be less than 20 weeks old from the time of pregnancy for abortion to
take place.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act of India clearly mentions the conditions
under which only a pregnancy can be ended or the foetus aborted, the persons who are
qualified to conduct the abortion and the place of implementation. The grounds, thus, for
(a) where the length of the pregnancy does not exceed twelve weeks if such medical
(i) the continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman
(ii) there is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or
However, when the pregnancy exceeds 12 weeks but is below 20 weeks, the consultation of
Following are the arguments which favour prohibition of abortion by the pro-life activists:
1. the issue of the foetus' life, which raises the question of whether one person's desire for
2. The killing of innocent is a crime and the foetus is also an innocent life.
4. There is also some evidence that having an abortion may increase a woman's risk of breast
cancer in later life. Some other complications include damage and/or infection to the uterus
and the Fallopian tubes making a woman infertile. Menstrual disturbances can also occur.
5. Aborting foetuses because they may be disabled sends an implicit message of rejection to
human being, entitled to protection, from the moment of conception and therefore has a right
1.The first argument is of Bodily Sovereignty. Each woman has the sole right to make
decisions about what happens to her body - no one should force her either to carry or
terminate a pregnancy against her will.· Most abortions are carried out on the grounds of
2.Other are situations where abortions is done to safeguard the life of a foetus, as it would
involve risk if pregnancy is carried, it might damage the foetus resulting in danger to the life
of the mother.
3. If abortion is banned, or just more restricted, we would return to the days of 'back-street
abortions'. In the past this has been accompanied by wild claims of the risk to women's health
from these procedures. The women resort to some unhygienic measures to abort the foetus.
4.Act of performing an abortion to save the mother's life when occurs, however, the rationale
is not that the foetus is seen to have less value than the mother, but that if no action is taken
both will die. Aborting the foetus at least saves the mother's life.
5. If suppose abortion is banned, a woman does not want to carry her pregnancy, she would
carry it and then abandon the new born child. This would be more dangerous to the life of the
1. Nowhere has the Act defined what would involve a risk or a grave injury to her mental
health. The term grave injury or substantial risk remains undefined. The gravity of the injury
or the extent of the risk present being left to the interpretation by the medical practitioner
create an apprehension.
The continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant women
depends on the will of the family of women rather the doctor or the lady. The families in
India don’t bother about the risk to the life of the mother. The number of deaths while
carrying out abortions illegally in India proves the situation beyond doubt.
The social mindset of the people still fears a pregnancy of an unmarried daughter and the
stigma associated with it and would take every type of risk to conceal the fact from the
society.
If the consent of women was of such relevance then the male - female ratio would not have
2. If the pregnancy is caused by rape there exists a substantial risk that, if the child were
handicapped if he comes to know about the type of situation his existence has come from.
3. The Act says that mental anguish due to pregnancy from contraceptive failure in a married
woman is an indication. Can an unmarried woman avail of this clause? She cannot use this,
but she can get abortion under the general clause of mental indication. Does it mean that only
married woman getting pregnant can ask for abortion? Why can’t the unmarried women do
so?
This is a hard core reality that now a days more women are indulging in pre marital sex and
failure of contraceptives is a possibility. Why those women are being deprived of the liberty
4. As provided in Act, no pregnancy shall be terminated except with the consent of the
pregnant woman. It is important to note, in this section, that the consent of the woman is the
essential factor for termination of her pregnancy. The husband's consent is irrelevant.
Therefore, if the woman wants an abortion but her husband's objects to it, the abortion can
still be done. However, if the woman does not wants an abortion but her husband wants, it
cannot be done. However, the consent of the guardians is needed in the case of minors or
5. Another feature of this clause is that though the husband’s consent has been ignored then
why does court pronounce it as a case of mental cruelty and entitle the husband to a divorce.
This is in a way applying double standards on the basis of sex in the society.
PARENT’S RIGHT?
Focussing on the Niketa Mehta case, why can’t the parents decide whether to have a child or
not? And what about the parents that come to know that there are some deformities in the
child and he will need regular medication to survive on this hostile planet?
Leave aside the deformities, if the child that has come into existence and the parents know
that they will not be able to bring up the child with the best of facilities, why thrust these
parents with the extra burden specially when the Indian welfare state itself is not able to fulfil
all its duties that are of a welfare state. A recent survey that says that 38% of Indian
population still lives under the poverty line, then why are we being stringent about the
abortion laws that can help reduce population below the poverty line and also save many
lives? Why can’t we make parents wholly responsible entities and the decision makers for the
child? Talking about the misuse of the law that actually leads to female foeticide, the parents
should be made equally liable with the doctor for the crime they commit.
ILLEGAL ABORTIONS – A HARSH CONSEQUENCE
"Every year 6.7 million abortions take place in India but the sad part is that 5.7 millions are
illegal. The place and technique used in most of the illegal cases are unsafe and unhygienic,"
said Sudha Tewari, president of Parivar Seva Sanstha, an NGO working closely with the
These types of abortions are actually not uncommon in India as there are many methods to
carry out this unscrupulous activity. People go to all sorts of midwives, babas to have the
child aborted. These places by no means are equipped and hygienic for the health of the
mother.
Most of people still don’t know that the abortion is very safe if carried out by a professional.
To my surprise, how can the legislators be so sure that after the prescribed time of 20 months
It came to light that Niketa Mehta had a miscarriage due to the hype around her case but who
is so sure to say that? Nobody can claim what lead to the death of the child as there are more
than one method to carry out the step. Like them, other people also don’t hesitate to abort the
unwanted child through any way they can to have a peace of mind.
A disabled child is still at the receiving end in our Indian society. The clause related
to the mentally ill child is a question of worry as the laws are ambiguous in nature.
The Nari Niketan case is a testimony to this. The Punjab and Haryana High court
actually ordered the abortion of a mentally ill child that was raped, but
Supreme Court reversed the order.
The constitution of committees, the reports from the doctors and other formalities that
were required took much time and the limit of 20 weeks for abortion to be carried out
passed. The court ordered to let the child make its way into the world.
Was this to let the women have her child and decide how she is going to rear him?
up or was this an order passed to hide the laxities in the act that made the requirements
under the sections to be too time consuming and led to court pass such an order.
Even if it was not so, the honourable court left few question unanswered.
1. When no one came out in support of this victim, who was the guardian that was asked
what was needed to be done? The guardian for the mentally ill person was the
2. What kind of consent was taken into consideration when the girl 19 years old but with a
brain of 9 years was pregnant and when she doesn’t even know what being pregnant mean!
3. Did the court take into consideration the kind of mental trauma that the girl will undergo
4. Who shall take care of the expenses when the child comes into existence and also when it
grows up? If we look at the function of our country as a welfare state, it has failed miserably
and to expect any kind of help by the women should be passed off as an illusion of her mind.
IMPROVEMENTS REQUIRED
transform the theoretical right to a safe abortion into a service that is truly available and safe.
• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act should have provisions to take a
second look at cases that are outside the legal limits under the special circumstances.
• More power should be given to the Family courts or the Fast Track courts to provide
quick judgements in the MTP Act cases where question of pregnancy and delivery of
• Nowhere has the MTP Act defined what would involve a risk or a grave injury to her
mental health. The term grave injury or substantial risk remains undefined. The
gravity of the injury or the extent of the risk being left to the interpretation of the
clause by the medical practitioner is rather questionable. The courts have to be more
precise in helping the common man and the practitioner interpret the clauses of the
act.
• Most of the women including one from the poor families are not interested in getting
abortion done from the Government hospitals due to poor facilities, unhygienic
conditions and the long queues that add to their problems. Special doctors should be
appointed and time should be allotted to them for their shifts so that it cause least
• A special provision dealing with the people, who actually help women get abortion
effort to inform people where services are available and about which procedures are
safer than others. Public service announcements on TV and radio, and information
posted on bus stands or on billboards (targeted to both men and women) would be a
• Develop incentives for doctors to get specific professional training in the least
• Work towards legal reform to change the clause in the MTP Act that insists that all
legal providers must be registered medical practitioners. This would open up new
supervision.
• Instead of waiting for sex education to become a part of the school curriculum, the
young girls should be taken to doctors who can help them understand things in a
better way. Parents should also not shy away from the steps that they can take to
ensure the safety of their girl child. Talking about the rural illiterate people, they
should be reached out by the young doctors in the local limits to explain the fine
• If at all the legislators make such laws to make the parents give birth to some
mentally ill child, it should also make provisions to help such family financially and
Some people advocate the notion that the ending of life of a voiceless and helpless child in
the mother’s womb is as good as mercy killing but some think other way round. Few things
1. If at all such was the case, why was there need of an act which legalised abortion?
Does the life exist only between a certain time period only viz. twelve to twenty
2. If the medical authorities are sure of the complications in the child after the birth, why
we have to make life of these parents tough forcing them to live with the pain and
agony that they will undergo daily and might not be able give love affection that is
3. Over 55% of Indian population belongs to middle class strata which can’t bear the
expenditure of the extra child or a mentally ill child. The option of aborting the child
relieves them of this pressure. What is the need of mixing two different concepts that
CONCLUSION
Though the abortion in India is legalised, yet the number of deaths during child delivery, the
finding of premature foetuses in dustbins, the removal of female foetuses, the declining of
female to male ratio in the Indian states clearly states the miserable failure of the abortions
laws. It is high time for the Indian legislators to make much required amendments arming the
abortions laws according to our society than copying the laws of different nations and trying
to imply it in ours. They are bound to fail here as they are framed taking into consideration
the social aspects of their society, a total alien to the one we live in.
It is the area where our legal luminaries should bring their great minds together and work out
a piece of legislation that is conducive to the Indian society and specially the women of our
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. www.google.com
2. www.wikepedia.com
3. http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/abortion-laws-in-india-240.html
4. http://www.indiatogether.org/manushi/issue126/abortion.htm
5. http://blogs.expressindia.com/showblogdetails.php?contentid=394265
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_India
7. www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/2003
8. www.hsph.Harvard.edu/organizations/healthnet/sAsia/repro/MTP act
9. www.bhj.org/journal/2002
10. www.indiatogether.org/2004/jan/wom-foeticide
11. www.janmanch.org/development-law/developmentlaws.asp
13. www.indiatogether.org/women/violence/infanticide