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Edical Termination OF Pregnancy: MTP ACT, 1971

The document discusses medical termination of pregnancy (abortion) in India. It summarizes the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act of 1971, which legalized abortion up to 12 weeks and in special circumstances up to 20 weeks, requiring consultation with medical practitioners. The Act was criticized for having an arbitrary 12-week limit and lengthy procedures, sometimes leading women to seek unsafe abortions. In 2020, the MTP Amendment Act was passed, increasing the gestation limit to 24 weeks under certain circumstances.

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Menka Madan
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52 views3 pages

Edical Termination OF Pregnancy: MTP ACT, 1971

The document discusses medical termination of pregnancy (abortion) in India. It summarizes the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act of 1971, which legalized abortion up to 12 weeks and in special circumstances up to 20 weeks, requiring consultation with medical practitioners. The Act was criticized for having an arbitrary 12-week limit and lengthy procedures, sometimes leading women to seek unsafe abortions. In 2020, the MTP Amendment Act was passed, increasing the gestation limit to 24 weeks under certain circumstances.

Uploaded by

Menka Madan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY

What is medical termination of pregnancy?

When a woman terminates her pregnancy intentionally before the birth of a


child it is called the Medical termination of pregnancy. In other words, “medical
termination of pregnancy is when a pregnancy is ended so that it does not result
in the birth of a child”. it is also called the abortion.

Medical termination of pregnancy also known as abortion has always been one
of the most controversial issues. There have always been the contradictory
views on this issue. some people support the termination of pregnancy because
they think that whether to keep the child or not should be the decision of the
women who is carrying the child, not of the other people. The most
controversial thing is to decide with whom the decision should lie to abort the
child? and till how much time the abortion should be permitted?

For resolving these queries the medical termination of pregnancy act 1971 was
implemented.

MTP ACT, 1971


Mtp act was introduced by the govt in 1971 to make the termination easy. It
legalized the abortion up to 12 weeks. It means if a woman terminates
her pregnancy before 12 weeks she will have to consult a medical
practitioner before it. but according to the MTP act abortion after 12
weeks was not permitted in any circumstance. that means if a woman
wanted to terminate her pregnancy after 12 weeks there were rare
solutions available to her. In special circumstances, she can be allowed
to terminate the pregnancy up to 20 weeks. But before terminating the
pregnancy she will have to consult at least two medical practitioners. If
the practitioner confirms that the termination is necessary for the health
of the mother and the child, than she can be permitted to terminate the
child. In other words if the doctor confirms that if the baby is born it will
have an impact on the health of child; child, will be born with mental
disability and physical disability, then she can be allowed to terminate
the pregnancy. This procedure was a very long and hectic. There were
certain provisions in the act that were really hectic for a woman. There
were certain drawbacks of the act like the upper gestation limit of 12
weeks was very irrational and arbitrary provision. The provision was
criticized because most of the women do not get to know in the initial
months of their pregnancy. A report suggests that most of the women get
aware about the [pregnancy in 10th or 11th week, so the women who get
to know late about their pregnancy can not abort the child. The result is
that sometimes they need to carry the unwanted pregnancy as well, which
impact their health negatively.

Another reason why the bill is criticized is that it has a lengthy procedure as it
needs at least one medical practitioner’s advice before terminating the
pregnancy and after 12 weeks it requires not less than 2 medical
practitioner’s advice. So because of this hectic procedure, the women
instead of going to the doctor used to [perform unsafe abortions at home,
which is really unsafe for their health. A report suggests that every year
around10% maternal deaths are because of unsafe abortions.

So, the amendment was necessary that’s why the Medical termination of
pregnancy Amendment act was passed in 2020 in parliament. It made
certain changes in the MTP Act 1971.

Changes made
It increased the upper gestation limit to 24 from 20 weeks. Now a woman can
terminate the pregnancy up to 24 weeks but under some prescribed
circumstances.

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