SC ABORTION RULING

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• The Supreme Court of India stated that differentiating between married and unmarried women for allowing termination of pregnancy on certain exceptional grounds is unconstitutional.
• The Court remark came in the case of a 25 years old pregnant woman who moved to the Supreme Court to allow abortion after the Delhi High Court declined her request last week.
• She has challenged the Medical termination of pregnancy rules 2003, which allows only specific categories of women for termination of pregnancy between 20 and 24 weeks.

Abortions law in India

• In the 1960s, the Union government constituted Shantilal Shah Committee to prepare a draft for the legalisation of abortion in India.
• In 1971, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act was enacted to reduce maternal mortality due to unsafe abortions.
  • It set an upper limit of the gestation period to which a woman can seek a medical abortion to 20 weeks.
  • Abortion is to be performed only by doctors with specialisation in gynaecology or obstetrics.
• Under section 312 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a person who “voluntarily causes a woman with child to miscarry” will be jailed for up to 3 years or fine or both.
  • The only exception from punishment is when it was done to save the life of the pregnant woman.
• The MTP Act was amended in 2003 to allow the use of the abortion medicine misoprostol, to medically terminate a pregnancy for up to 7 weeks.
• The MTP Act was again amended in 2021, it increased the upper limit of the gestation period to which a woman can seek a medical abortion to 24 weeks from 20 weeks permitted in the 1971 Act. But the new upper limit can only be applied in specific cases.
  • Abortion up to 20 weeks of gestational age can be done after the opinion of a single registered medical practitioner.
  • From 20 weeks up to 24 weeks, the opinion of two registered medical practitioners is required.
• Under the 2021 amendment Act, medical termination of pregnancy is permitted if it is based on medical opinion and fulfil at least one of the following reasons;
  • If the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman.
  • If pregnancy results in any injury to the woman’s physical or mental health.
  • If f unborn child suffers from a serious physical or mental abnormality.
• The pregnancy can be terminated up to 24 weeks of gestational age under any of these conditions;
  • If the woman is either a survivor of sexual assault or rape.
  • If she is a minor.
  • If her marital status has changed during the ongoing pregnancy (widowhood or divorce).
  • If she has major physical disabilities or is mentally ill.
  • If foetal malformation was incompatible with life or after birth, it would be seriously handicapped.
• If the pregnancy has to be terminated beyond the 24-week gestational age, it can only be done on the grounds of foetal abnormalities and only after clearance from a four-member Medical Board.
• In the K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India and other cases, the Supreme Court had held that the decision taken by a pregnant person related to pregnancy is part of her right to privacy under article 21.

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Concern

• According to the Lancet study, 6 million abortions were conducted every year in India.
• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s 2019-20 report indicates that there is a 70% shortage of obstetrician-gynaecologists in India.
• As the law does not permit abortion at will, it pushes women to adopt unsafe, illegal and dangerous ways of abortion.
• According to a study, every year more than 8, 00,000 unsafe and illegal abortions are performed in India and many of them result in maternal mortality.
  

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/supreme-court-women-abortion-ruling-8181347/

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