Interviewtimes 
MTP (Amendment) Act 2021 (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) came into the picture on March 17, 2021. However, reformist as it seems, does the Act serve its purpose?
After this amendment, abortion is allowed between 20-24 weeks with the assessment of 2 clinical professionals. The law actually doesn’t make exemptions for varied cases, nor are there explicit provisions for dealing with the pregnancy of minors.
Any individual who even skims through the paper each day would be knowing about the treatment shown to a rape survivor. There have been situations where the survivor is just about as young as 10 or 11 years of age. Under such conditions, however Section 5 of the MTP (Amendment) Act 2021 says that a clinical expert may end such pregnancy if they consider it would be of danger to the pregnant woman’s life, the question remains – are doctors making such strides favourable to effectively?
Does only increasing the cap on the gestational period tackle the issue? Particularly given the absence of affectability appeared towards such cases, alongside taboos and disgrace related with them?
Indeed, the MTP (Amendment) Act 2021 is a very welcoming move, however it isn’t adequate, as such a lot of still should be finished.
RajyaSabha approves the Medical Termination of Pregnancy(MTP) (Amendment) Bill, 2021 to amend the MTP Act, 1971, on Tuesday(March 16, 2021)
Bill approved in Lok Sabha on March 17, 2020
A step towards safety & well-being of women https://t.co/cvnxJKDV1w@MinistryWCD @PIBWCD pic.twitter.com/21eaX3I5nj
— PIB in Tamil Nadu (@pibchennai) March 17, 2021
The term ‘married woman and her husband has been supplanted with ‘a woman and her partner’, and the failure of contraceptives is considered as a ground for abortion, as it might make grave injury to the emotional wellbeing of the woman. This is being promoted as the most reformist part of MTP (Amendment) Act 2021.
With this amendment, an unmarried woman has similar rights as her married partner as this makes it more secure for them to approach bonafide clinical experts. The worry actually stays, while the law guarantees that a woman’s conjugal status doesn’t come in the method of her looking for abortion, will it change cultural insight? Is the clinical expert going to stop enquiring about your conjugal status?
What might be said about women who conclude they would prefer not to proceed with a pregnancy – what might be said about their autonomy as citizens, over their bodies?
Another disputed matter will be if a woman can’t prove as per the the doctors that proceeding with the pregnancy would hurt her physical or emotional well-being, her entitlement to an abortion gets undermined. This is particularly evident in women from marginalised communities. The nerve-racking examples of women in abusive relationships, who are been denied abortion until their life partner assents are unfortunate events.
Most medical clinics make deterrents for the woman looking for an early termination, the chief being declining to continue further without spousal assent. The amendment is unquestionably a stage forward in its consideration of unmarried women under its umbrella. Yet, it is obvious that the MTP (Amendment) Act 2021 does little to reinforce the privilege to abortion, which is a privilege associated firmly to the crucial right to life and dignity of a woman.
With the amendment policing a woman’s basic right over her own body has this revision become a justification “regret in leisure“.
To put it plainly, this bill over-medicalises abortion, strip a pregnant woman of their entitlement to real and decisional autonomy vesting the choice to cut short with the state, never really be more comprehensive of underestimated individuals who need safe admittance to abortion.
Above all, it actually doesn’t perceive “abortion freely” in any phase of the pregnancy. So indeed, this might be somewhat better, yet not the slightest bit a “Reformist Bill”.
The MTP Amendment Bill 2020 likewise explains the need to guarantee “nobility, independence, privacy and equity for women who need to end a pregnancy”. In this manner, abortion stays a contingent provision and not an absolute right.
