JOIN USThe Union Cabinet’s endorsement of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020, is a welcome decision. The Bill extends the time limit for pregnancy termination from the present 20 weeks to 24 weeks. An amendment to the 1971 law was long overdue. Fifty years ago, there was no ultrasound technology in medicine to detect foetal abnormalities. That has changed. Today, diagnostic technologies enable us to detect Downs’ Syndrome, congenital heart defects and other abnormalities in a foetus. However, such anomalies show up only around the 18th week of pregnancy. Under the 1971 law, doctors were left with very little time to explore all options to deal with foetal abnormalities before deciding that abortion would be the best course. Many women have turned to the courts to be allowed an MTP but rarely do such decisions come immediately. The 2020 MTP Bill gives a pregnant woman and her doctor an additional four weeks of time to make the difficult decision to abort the foetus. It enables pregnant women to draw the full benefits of advances in foetal diagnostics. The proposed law will apply to “special categories of women,” which include rape survivors, victims of incest, the differently-abled and minors. Often, minors and women with disabilities are not aware they are pregnant. It is only when the physical signs of their pregnancy become apparent to their parents or others around them that the question of how to deal with an unwanted pregnancy arises. That may happen between the 20th and 24th weeks. The MTP Bill will help in such cases.
It is unfortunate that only “special categories of women” come under the ambit of the amended law. When advances in abortion procedures have made MTPs at the 24th week safe, why should the right to abort at 24 weeks be denied to other women and girls? Parliament must act to ensure that the Bill respects the reproductive rights of all women. It’s every woman’s right to make the decision to abort or not.
Pre-marital pregnancy or pregnancy that is the outcome of rape is ostracised in our society. Therefore, many women prefer to self-abort or turn to quacks. Many of them die in the process of unsafe abortions. Women can draw the full benefit of the 2020 MTP Bill only if they go to health facilities with trained personnel to have the MTP done. The government must set up more facilities that provide for advice on safe contraception and MTPs and take steps to wipe out the stigma attached to rape, premarital sex, premarital pregnancy, etc. People must be made aware of the benefits of the new law.