The Medical Termination
of Pregnancy Act, 1971 lays down
1. The conditions under which a pregnancy can be terminated
2. The person or persons who can perform such termination, and
3. The place where such terminations can be performed
The Conditions under which a pregnancy can be
terminated under the MTP Act. 1971
There
are five conditions that have been identified in the Act
Medical - where continuation of
the pregnancy might endanger the mother's life or cause grave
injury to her physical or mental health
Eugenic - where there is
substantial risk of the child being born with serious handicaps due
to physical or mental abnormalities
Humanitarian - where pregnancy
is the result of rape
Socio-economic - where actual or
reasonably foreseeable environments (whether social or economic)
could lead to risk of injury to the health of the mother
Failure of contraceptive devices
- The anguish caused by an unwanted pregnancy resulting from a
failure of any contraceptive device or method can be presumed to
constitute a grave mental injury to the health of the mother. This
condition is a unique feature of the Indian Law and virtually
allows abortion on request, in view of the difficulty of proving
that a pregnancy was not caused by failure of contraception
The written consent of the
guardian is necessary before performing abortion in women under 18
years of age, and in lunatics even if they are older than 18 years
2. The Person or Persons who can perform
abortion
The Act provides safeguards to the mother by authorising only a
Registered Medical Practitioner having experience in gynaecology and
obstetrics to perform abortion where the length of pregnancy does not
exceed 12 weeks. However, where the pregnancy exceeds 12 weeks and
is not more than 20 weeks the opinion of two Registered Medical
Practitioners is necessary to terminate the pregnancy
3. Where abortions can be done
The Act stipulates that no termination of pregnancy shall be made at
any place other than a hospital establishing or maintained by
Government or a place approved for the purpose of this Act by
Government
Abortion services are provided in hospitals in strict confidence.
The name of the abortion seeker is kept confidential, since abortion
has been treated statutorily as a personal matter.
MTP RULES (1975)
Rules and Regulations framed initially were altered in October 1975
to eliminate time - consuming procedures involved in MTP and to make
services more readily available. These changes have occurred in 3
administrative areas (110,111)
1. Approval by Board
Under the new rules, the Chief Medical Officer of the district is
empowered to certify that a doctor has the necessary training in
gynaecology and obstetrics to do abortions. The procedure of doctors
applying to Certification Boards was removed
2. Qualification required to do abortion
The new rules allow for registered medical practitioners to qualify
through on the spot training "If he has assisted a RMP in the
performance of 25 cases of medical termination of pregnancy in an
approved institution "
The doctor may also qualify to do MTPs under the new rules if he has
one or more of the following qualifications which are similar to the
old rules :
6 months housemanship in
obstetrics and gynaecology
a
post-graduate qualification in OBG
3 years of practice in OBG for
those doctors registered before the 1971 MTP Act was passed
1 year of practice in OBG for
those doctors registered on or after the date of commencement
of the Act
3. The place where abortion is performed
Under the new rules, non-governmental institutions may also take up
abortions provided they obtain a licence from the Chief Medical
Officer of the district, thus eliminating the requirement of private
clinics obtaining a Board licence
Impact of liberalisation of abortion
Although
abortion has been greatly liberalised, the annual number of legal
abortions are about 0.6 million, which contribute hardly 10 per cent
of the abortions done in the country. In other words, illegal
abortions done in the country. In other words, illegal abortions are
still rife although it is now more than 30 years since the MTP Act
has been promulgated. Experts opine that facilities for safe, legal
abortion should be made universally available
Repeated
abortion is not conductive to the health of the mother. It has to be
ensured that abortion does not replace the traditional methods of
birth control. The numerous abortion hazards which are inherent
should serve as a warning that abortion under the best of
circumstances can never be a safe as efficient contraception
