Abortion in India
Abortion in India is legal in certain circumstances. It can be performed on various grounds until 20 weeks of pregnancy. In exceptional cases, a court may allow a termination after 20 weeks.
When a woman gets a pregnancy terminated voluntarily from a service provider, it is called induced abortion.[2] Spontaneous abortion is when the process of abortion starts on its own without any intervention. In common language, this is also known as miscarriage.
Till 2017, there was a dichotomous classification of abortion as safe and unsafe. Unsafe abortion[3] was defined by 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." However, with abortion technology now becoming safer, this has been replaced by a three tier classification of safe, less safe, and least safe permitting a more nuanced description of the spectrum of varying situations that constitute unsafe abortion and the increasingly widespread substitution of dangerous, invasive methods with use of misoprostol outside the formal health system.
Safe abortion:[3] provided by health-care workers and with methods recommended by WHO.
Less-safe abortion:[3] done by trained providers using non-recommended methods or using a safe method (e.g. misoprostol) but without adequate information or support from a trained individual.
Least-safe abortion:[3] done by a trained provider using dangerous, invasive methods.
Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC),[4] a term "rooted in the belief that women must be able to access high-quality, affordable abortion care in the communities where they live and work", was first introduced in India by Ipas[5] in 2000. The concept of CAC encompasses care through the entire period from conception to post abortion care and includes pain management.
Abortion law in India
Before 1971 (Indian Penal Code, 1860)
Before 1971, abortion was criminalized under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860,[6] describing it as intentionally "causing miscarriage[7]". 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[8] 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.
It was in the 1960s, when abortion was legal in 15 countries, that deliberations on a legal framework for induced abortion in India was initiated. The alarmingly increased number of abortions taking place put the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on alert.[9] To address this, the Government of India instated a Committee in 1964 led by Shantilal Shah[9] to come up with suggestions to draft the abortion law for India. The recommendations of this Committee were accepted in 1970 and introduced [9] in the Parliament as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill. This bill was passed in August 1971 as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.