Since 2016, more than 70 women and minor girls have approached the court for termination of their pregnancies which were beyond 20 weeks. While a majority of the petitions were on the grounds of fetal anomalies, some were filed by victims of sexual assault. The courts have granted permission in most of these cases, triggering a debate on amending the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, which sets the abortion limit at 20 weeks.
“The 20-week limitation is archaic and illogical. If the courts have allowed abortion in so many cases, it is simply the apathy of the legislature that the amendments to the MTP Act have not yet been passed,” Mumbai-based gynaecologist Dr. Nikhil Datar said. He was the first doctor to approach the Bombay High Court in 2008 on behalf of Niketa Mehta, a 24-week pregnant woman, who wanted to terminate her pregnancy on the ground of fetal anomaly.
The HC had then rejected the plea, but Ms. Mehta had a miscarriage before they could approach the Supreme Court. “When a woman with a same medical condition can legally terminate the pregnancy one day prior to 20 weeks, how does it become criminal to do so one day beyond 20 weeks?” Dr. Datar asked.
Between 2008 and 2016, Dr. Datar referred a few more such cases to the HC and the apex court. However, the influx of cases began in 2016 when the SC allowed a 22-week pregnant rape victim to terminate her anomalous foetus.
“The increase in the number of cases was also because more women became open to seeking the legal route,” said Sneha Mukherjee, a lawyer with the Human Rights Law Network that has fought these cases pro bono. In 2014, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare proposed amendments to the MTP Act, increasing the limit to 24 weeks. But, in 2017, the bill was returned by the Prime Minister’s Office, which asked the ministry to strengthen the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act. The Bill has been revised thereafter, but is yet to be tabled.
Ms. Mukherjee said, “We are at a much-advanced stage of the debate now. The grounds for termination cannot just be contained to the medical issues and have to cover much wider choices. What matters is how these cases are being looked at by the judiciary.”
She cited an example of a teenager who married early and was promised by the husband and his family that she would not be taken out of school. “When this girl got pregnant, these promises were forgotten. She eventually sought court’s intervention for abortion,” Ms. Mukherjee said.
According to gynaecologist Dr. Bipin Pandit, many countries in the West extended the limit for abortion over the years with the advancement in technology. “Many anomalies including some anomalies in the heart can be detected after 20 weeks. Also, the methods of abortion have become safer,” said Dr. Pandit, adding it is not feasible to seek court’s intervention every time a woman seeks abortion beyond 20 weeks.
