Medical termination of pregnancy(MTP) Act 1971

Medical termination of pregnancy(MTP) Act 1971

Author- Khushi Rastogi, a student from Lloyd Law College

Abortion in has been legal under various circumstances with the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. When a woman gets a pregnancy terminated voluntarily from a service provider, it is induced abortion and spontaneous abortion also known as miscarriage. Unsafe abortion was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "a procedure for termination of a pregnancy done by an individual who does not have the necessary training or in an environment not conforming to minimal medical standards." Before 1971, abortion was criminalized under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, describing it as intentionally "causing miscarriage". Except in cases where abortion was carried out to save the life of the woman, it was a punishable offense and criminalized women/providers, with whoever voluntarily caused a woman with child to miscarry facing three years in prison and/or a fine, and the woman availing of the service facing seven years in prison and/or a fine. The government of India instated a committee in 1964 led by Shantilal Shah to come up with suggestions to draft the abortion law for India. The recommendations of this committee were accepted in 1970 and introduced in the Parliament as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill. This bill was passed in August 1971 as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 provides the legal framework for making comprehensive abortion care (CAC) services available in India. Termination of pregnancy is permitted for a broad range of conditions up to 20 weeks of gestation.

• The MTP Act specifies-:

• who can terminate a pregnancy

• till when a pregnancy can be terminated

• where can a pregnancy be terminated

• Who may terminate pregnancy-:

• has a recognized medical qualification under the Indian Medical Council 

• whose name is entered in the State Medical Register

• who has such experience or training in gynecology and obstetrics as per 

the MTP Rules

• As per the provisions of the MTP Act, only the consent of woman whose pregnancy is being terminated is required. However, in case of a minor i.e. below the age of 18 years, or a woman with mental illness, consent of guardian (MTP Act defines guardian as someone who has the care of the minor. This does not imply that only parent/s are required to consent.) is required for termination. The MTP rules 2003, define composition of the committee stating that one member of the committee should be a gynecologist / surgeon/ anesthetist and other members should be from the local medical profession, non-government organizations, and Panchayati Raj Institution of the district and one member of the committee should be a woman also, provide specific guidelines pertaining to equipment, facilities, drugs, and referral linkages to higher facilities required by an approved place for providing quality CAC and post abortion services. The Government took cognizance of the challenges faced by women in accessing safe abortion services and in 2006 constituted an expert group to review the existing provisions of the MTP Act to propose draft amendments and MoHFW shared the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2014. After amendments, MTP Act 2021 states that the gestation period upper limit for terminating a pregnancy with 1 doctor's opinion has been extended from 12 weeks to 20 weeks, with the rule being expanded to include unmarried women as well and the foetal anomalies that have substantial risk of being incompatible with life or if the child is born it may suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities to be seriously handicapped.