Abortion & women

Women and motherhood go hand in hand whenever we talk about a family, a society and a nation. The preliminary concept of being a woman, biologically as well as socially, is associated with her reproductive obligations and rights.

This right includes right to make free choices relating to give birth, having good health, contraception and abortion free from coercion and influences. Although, we cannot say it to be an absolute right as State’s interference with some of the matters wouldn’t let us do so. Rights related to medical termination or abortion is the most prevalent topic in this regard. The right based approach have failed to achive the goal which reflected on the enactment of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. It gives a subjective autonomy to a woman while dealing with her health and exercise of choices. The act provides provisions for termination of pregnancy subjected to opinion of one doctor if it is done within 12 weeks of conception and two doctors if it is done between 12 and 20 weeks. The proposed bill of 2020 allows abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks, and two doctors in the case of certain categories of women between 20 and 24 weeks.

It still fails to focus on the practical scenario on two grounds effectively, i.e. it doesn’t give importance to the Needs-based approach, thus faltering in dealing with the matters of illegal abortion and quack doctors making prejudice to women’s health and privacy secondly, it doesn’t expressively talk about the rights and choices relating to abortion of single or unmarried women hitherto.

The current legislation is already serving the purposes like state recognised abortion, prevention of illegal abortions but loopholes like lack in privacy, concentration of powers on third persons and not readily accessible procedures are needed to be addressed.