Recently, the Parliament of New Zealand passed a landmark legislation which decriminalized abortions after years of campaigning. According to the Justice Minister, Andrew Little, the legislation would make abortion a completely medical issue and not a criminal one. Having the right to abort a pregnancy forms one of the fundamental rights of any female because of the autonomy which one has upon one’s body.
Is Abortion In India Still A Taboo?
In the Indian context, abortion is still a very stigmatized and a taboo issue for most of the population.
Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalized the act of abortion before 1971 and only legalized it to a certain extent after the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 (MTP).
Section 312 of the IPC still holds when the medical process of abortion violates any of the provisions of the MTP Act of 1971. The current act requires women who choose to have an abortion to do it under the gestation period of 12 weeks with the help of only one registered medical practitioner. If it exceeds the gestation period of 12 weeks then the opinion of two medical practitioners is required and is allowed up to 20 weeks.
The recent amendment extends this to 24 weeks with the opinion of two medical practitioners but only for ‘special categories of women’ that include survivors of rape, incest and differently-abled women. It also proposes that for the upper gestation period of 20 weeks only the opinion of one registered medical practitioner is required.
The Recent Amendment In Abortion Laws: Is It Progressive?
While at first glance, the amendment looks fairly progressive, it does nothing to address the issues of all the women who might choose to have an abortion. Majority of the women in India do not have the right to make decisions. In certain cases, a woman might be pressured by the family to keep the foetus, and might not be self-empowered to have an abortion. In such cases, the pregnancy may be well over 20 weeks.
The recent advancement in technology has made it safe to undergo the process of abortion for a gestation period up to 24 weeks. I feel that the MTP Act is eventually a set of laws that provide certain provisions for the process of medical abortion. It eventually disregards the opinion of the woman and rests the final decision under a third-party actor – the registered medical practitioner.
The new amendment also replaces the term ‘married woman and her husband’ with ‘a woman and her partner’. This also removes an age-old barrier for the right to safe abortion of many women who do not fall under the term marriage as recognized by the State. In a society where the pre-marital sex is still a very big taboo, an abortion before marriage becomes a social stigma or ‘evil’ for society. The MTP Act, because of its insistence on the term married woman, perpetuated this stigma and failed to uphold the safety of many Indian women.
An average of 13 women die every day because they do not have access to safe abortions. 80% of the women in the country are unaware of the fact that abortion is legal for some categories of women. However, this does not stop women to choose abortion but leads to unsafe abortions. There are many shady organizations which promise abortion at very high rates and follow very unsafe methods which lead to the death of the woman.
If abortion would have been legal by the original MTP Act of 1971, then the awareness about abortions would have led to more safe abortions. The amendment also proposes that if the identity of the woman who chooses to have an abortion is revealed, it is punishable by law. Given the societal stigma of the Indian society, this law will hardly deter this crime and women, especially from the marginalized section with lesser access to resources, will not be able to take the proper legal approach for punishing the perpetrator.
Suggestions For A Proper Approach: Give Women More Voice
I feel the first step should be the dec
It must ensure that there is a proper number of medical practitioners and medical equipment available in health centres across the country that provide for safe abortions completely free of cost or at a very affordable rate. It must also raise awareness drives that ensure safe abortions, simultaneously taking action against the shady organizations that thrive because of this very lack of awareness.
The original MTP Act proposes that it regulates abortions keeping in mind the safety of the woman’s life. However, the archaic law fails in its objective and in turn perpetuates unsafe abortions which cost women’s lives. Abortion is an issue which is very personal for a woman and the regulatory practices proposed by the MTP Act violates privacy and enforces its own will, disregarding the woman’s will.
Even in the 21st century, the only amendment done to the law are minor ones and do not address the issue of abortion as a right for every woman. It should be also kept in mind that the policymakers and the ministers who regulate such laws are also men, which also explains the disregard for women’s rights. In a country where unsafe abortions lead to many deaths, it is high time that policymakers uphold a right-based approach and include a good majority of women who then can decide on the viability of the Act.
The decriminalizing of abortion and the removal of the MTP Act is the first step towards a safe and right-based approach to abortion. In the end, a woman should not have to answer anyone why she chooses to have an abortion.