The recent abortion ban in the US has caused a global uproar as women get one of their most basic constitutional rights taken away—legal abortions. Back in India, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, passed in 1972 and amended last year, allows women to seek safe abortion for a broad range of conditions for up to 20 weeks.
What Does The Law Say About Abortion In India
For a woman to get a legal abortion up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, a medical practitioner has to give their consent. For termination of pregnancy up to 24 weeks (only available for special categories of women that includes survivors of sexual abuse, minors, victims of rape, incest and disabled women), the opinion of two registered medical practitioners is required.
Post the amendment in 2021, unmarried women can now get legal abortions on the grounds of contraceptive failure. A registered medical practitioner is bound to protect the confidentiality of the woman getting the abortion. Violation of the same is punishable with imprisonment of up to a year.
Where Can You Get An Abortion & How Much Does It Cost?
All government hospitals are permitted to offer legal abortions. Private hospitals need the government’s approval to perform abortions. The approved drugs for the Medical Method of Abortion (MMA) are Mifepristone and Misoprostol. The use of these drugs is authorised for up to nine weeks.
Abortion is covered in the government’s public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees’ State Insurance. A surgical abortion costs Rs 15,500, including consultation, therapy, hospitalisation, medication, USG (Ultrasound Sonography test) and follow-up treatments. For medical abortion, the rate is set at Rs 1,500, which includes consultation and USG.
Can You Get Leave At Work Post An Abortion?
India was the first country to legalise miscarriage leave. The Maternity Benefit Act 1961 states that women will be entitled to paid leave for six weeks immediately following the day of their miscarriage. Women must submit proof of miscarriage; however, willful termination of pregnancy (abortion) is excluded from this.
Women with illnesses arising out of miscarriage are entitled to paid leave up to one-month post submission of relevant medical proofs.
Why India Needs A Stronger Medical Structure For Abortion Laws
While women can choose to get an abortion, one of the critical drawbacks is the requirement of a medical practitioner’s consent. Doctors in India have been known to not always function from a medical viewpoint and refuse abortion based on cultural biases. While the law is meant to give more autonomy to women over their bodies, this clause doesn’t serve the purpose.
Lack of medical consent often leads to women opting for other, unsafe methods to terminate the pregnancy. A study estimated that 15.6 million abortions took place in India in 2015—out of these, a significant portion were unsafe abortions. Unsafe abortions are the third largest cause of maternal mortality leading to the death of 10 women daily. There is a dire need to strengthen women’s access to legal abortions.
Even after 50 years of the law being passed, abortion is still not wholly decriminalised in India. The Indian Penal Code declares abortion (induced miscarriage) a criminal offence under Section 312. The MTP Act is the exception to this law. The law safeguards registered medical practitioners by laying down specific conditions under which they can terminate the pregnancy. The MTP Act also explicitly states pregnant ‘women’, hence eliminating accessibility to transgender persons and those who do not identify as women.
Lead image by Viktoria Slowikowska via Pexels
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