India's Abortion Law And The Agency Of Pregnant Women: Debates And Legal Developments

Sudeshna Sahu, LL.B. (Hons.), O.P. Jindal Global University

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the evolution of abortion laws in India over the years. It focuses on how, although India has had abortion laws from a very long time, the laws have always been from the perspective of a medical practitioner. The paper also tries to point out how that has changed in recent years and how we are heading towards a more 'women centric' approach in this area. This paper also discusses the various debates surrounding abortion in India.

Keywords: Abortion, Agency, Women, Termination, Pregnancy

INTRODUCTION

Abortion is commonly known as miscarriage or termination of pregnancy practised throughout most of the world and has been practised since long before the beginning of recorded history, it is a subject that arouses passion and various controversy. Abortion raises fundamental questions about the existence of a human, for example when life begins and what it is that makes us human. Abortion is at the heart of such contentious issues as the right of women to control their bodies, the nature of the State’s duty to protect the unborn, the tension arises between secular and religious views of human life, the individual, and society, the rights of spouses and parents to be involved in the abortion decision, and the conflicting rights of the mother and the foetus. Also, central to the subject of abortion is one of the most highly controversial social issues of all, the agency of women. Any discussion of abortion almost inevitably leads to a consideration of how a pregnancy came about and ways that the use of contraceptive methods could have prevented the pregnancy. However, the plight of a woman and how a woman goes through psychological suffering during this time is often ignored. With the introduction of new laws, these questions and issues continue to occupy a significant place in public discourse around the world and India.

In India, the second most populous country in the world, abortion has been legal on a broad range of grounds since 1971. A substantial body of research on various aspects of abortion in India, including policies, service provision and women’s perspectives, has been conducted in the past decade this essay focuses on the evolution of abortion practices and the present scenario It also focuses on the legal framework under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, which regulates access to abortion within India and considers issues relating to access to abortion, and debates surrounding access to abortion where foetuses have been diagnosed with medical conditions likely to affect their quality of life, and/or survival. And mainly focuses on MTP act after-effects of the recent 2021 amendment act which results in providing relief and difficulties faced by married and unmarried women. To help them different agencies such as government, private and individual has been built up to provide safe abortion faculties which insurance safe space for consultation and are also mindful of issuing the right to privacy which comes under Article 21 of the Indian constitution " No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.