MTP Act

 The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill was passed by both the Houses of the Parliament and received the assent of the President of India on 10th August, 1971. It came on the Statute Book as the "The MTP Act, 1971". This law guarantees the Right of Women in India to terminate an unintended pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner in a hospital established or maintained by the Government or a place being approved for the purpose of this Act by the Government. Not all pregnancies could be terminated.

Section 3 of the MTP Act said that pregnancy can be terminated if:

# Therapeutic indication: in order to prevent injury to the physical or mental health of the woman.

# Eugenic indication: in view of the substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to seriously handicap.

# Humanitarian indication: as the pregnancy is alleged by a pregnant woman to have been caused by rape.

# Social indication: as the pregnancy has occurred as result of failure of any contraceptive device or method used by married woman or her husband for the purpose of limiting the number of children.

# The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman

# The termination of pregnancy is to be carried out in a government hospital or at a place approved by the government and two medical practitioners are necessary if the pregnancy is more than 12 weeks but less than 20 weeks duration; for less than 12 weeks one medical practitioner can terminate it. 

# The consent of woman alone is required if she above 18 year of age, but if she is a minor or lunatic, consent of the guardian is necessary. 

Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code read with the Medical termination of Pregnancy act, 1971 where all the restrictions imposed therein, including the time limit of 20 weeks, other than the ones to ensure good medical conditions, infringe the right to abortion and the right to health, which emanate from right to life as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution and also violates her liberty and happiness. The Supreme Court of India has said that the right to privacy is implicit in Article 21 of the Constitution and a right to abortion can be read from this right .