What just happened?
On 16th March 2021, the Upper House of Parliament in India passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020.1 The new Bill includes a number of progressive provisions to aid rape victims, underage or ill women to terminate unwanted pregnancy legally.2 However, unfortunately the Bill does not give women the right to have ‘abortion on demand’. It requires them to seek opinions of medical practitioners for abortion within 24 weeks of pregnancy and permission from a Medical Board for pregnancies beyond 24 weeks.
What does this mean?
According to the Bill, women are allowed to have abortions on grounds of risk to the life of the pregnant woman, grave injury to her mental or physical health (this includes rape and failure of birth control measures) or cases of foetal abnormalities.3 It is to bring to note that the said Bill is an amendment to the original Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 which was an exception to the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 that rendered voluntary termination of pregnancy a criminal offence. The pregnant woman as well as the person causing the miscarriage could be sentenced upto 7 years in prison or fine or both.4
This might ring some bells as around the same time the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861 in UK mentioned that performing an abortion or trying to self-abort was an offence punishable with a sentence upto life imprisonment.5 The Abortion Act, 1967 (amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, 1990) legalised abortion in certain conditions viz. to protect the life of a woman, to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the woman or if the child is at risk of suffering from serious physical or mental abnormalities.6Similar to the newly legislated law in India, the Abortion Act in UK requires that two doctors must decide in ‘good faith’ that a woman meets the legal requirements for an abortion.7 By 2018, women in UK, except for Northern Ireland, were allowed to have the second of the two abortion pills at home, instead of a clinic, in case of medical abortion.8 Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic, the UK government used powers provided by the Abortion Act, 1967 to amend the definition of what an ‘approved place’ is to receive treatment for ending a pregnancy.9Following this amendment, women can have a telephonic or online consultation with a medical professional and receive a treatment package containing the two abortion pills at home in case of an early medical abortion.10
From criminalizing abortion to regulating abortion according to the needs and circumstances, we definitely have come a long way but not long enough. The General Recommendation No. 35 of the CEDAW Committee emphasized the need to recognize the right to abortion stating that “criminalization, denial or delay of safe abortion constitute violations of women’s sexual and reproductive health.”11It is high time women are given the freedom to decide, in the real sense, what to do with their bodies and have the choice to have ‘abortion on demand’ instead of being dependent on the State, partner, family or medical professional to give them a nod to go ahead with it.
By Neha Singh
References
[1] Sobhana K. Nair, ‘Parliament proceedings | Rajya Sabha passes the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill’ (New Delhi, 16 March 2021) <https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/parliament-proceedings-rajya-sabha-passes-the-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-bill/article34085993.ece> accessed 17 March 2021
[2] ABP News Bureau, ‘Parliament Passes Bill To Raise Upper Limit For Abortions To 24 Weeks In Special Cases’ (16 March 2021) <https://news.abplive.com/news/rajya-sabha-passes-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-amendment-bill-2020-1448759> accessed 17 March 2021
[3] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ‘The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020’ <https://prsindia.org/billtrack/the-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-amendment-bill-2020#_edn2> accessed 17 March 2021
[4] Outlook Web Bureau, ‘Rajya Sabha Passes Bill to Raise Upper Limit Of Abortions From The Present 20 weeks to 24’ (16 March 2021) <https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-parliament-passes-bill-to-raise-the-upper-limit-for-permitting-abortions-to-24-weeks-in-special-cases/377411> accessed 17 March 2021
[5] Abortion Rights, the national pro-choice campaign <https://abortionrights.org.uk/history-of-abortion-law-in-the-uk/> accessed 17 March 2021
[6] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (n3)
[7] British Pregnancy Advisory Service, ‘Britain’s Abortion Law’ <https://www.bpas.org/get-involved/campaigns/briefings/abortion-law/> accessed 17 March 2021
[8] ‘What are the UK’s laws on abortion?’ (BBC, 22 October 2019) <https://www.bbc.com/news/health-19856314> accessed 17 March 2021
[9] James Goddard, ‘Coronavirus and abortion law’ (House of Lords Library, 06 April 2020) <https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus-and-abortion-law/> accessed 17 March 2021
[10] ibid
[11] CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/35 (2017), paras. 18, 31(a) <https://reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/SecuringReproductiveJusticeIndia-Chpt05.pdf> accessed 17 March 2021
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