Beyond Gestational Limits: Reproductive Autonomy And The Constitutional Future Of India’s Medical Termination Of Pregnancy Framework
- IJLLR Journal
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Ishan Mishra & Yashveer Singh, United University, Prayagraj
ABSTRACT
The current debates surrounding abortion laws in India bring forth significant issues pertaining to the intersection between autonomy and regulation under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 ("MTP Act"). Even though the MTP Act does prescribe the conditions upon which abortion is permissible, there continue to be systemic constraints on accessing healthcare, specifically for women. The increased filing of constitutional writ petitions by victims of sexual assault, minors, individuals with severe foetal anomalies, women with late pregnancies and cases where patients are faced with barriers to accessing the service itself highlights the lacuna in the current legislative framework and the inherent contradiction between legislative control and the right to reproductive liberty. This article analyses the constitutional validity of gestational restrictions within the Indian MTP regime from the lens of individual autonomy and a rights-based approach, providing a brief trajectory of the development of abortion laws in India from a criminal law perspective to a constitutional framework focusing on reproductive choice.
The article explores key constitutional cases like Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration, Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, and X v. Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, and discusses how reproductive autonomy is recognised as part of Indian constitutional law as central to dignity, privacy and bodily autonomy.
The article then appraises the efficacy of a case-by-case judicial adjudicatory mechanism, along with the medical board procedures and gestational constraints. Via comparative constitutional law and adherence to international human rights norms like CEDAW, the jurisprudence on the ICCPR, and guidelines by the World Health Organization, the article proposes that increasingly rigid abortion regulations no longer comply with current constitutional concepts regarding autonomy, equality, and healthcare access. Conclusively, the article demands a constitutional review of India's abortion policy, focusing on proportionality-based analysis and structural reform to create a more liberal, autonomy-affirming reproductive framework that limits institutional discretion and asserts reproductive choices as inherent elements of liberty, dignity, meaningful equality and constitutional identity.
