Parliament Passes Bill Allowing Legal Abortion Now Upto 24 Weeks

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Parliament recently passed a bill called The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020
• This bill allows legal abortions by raising the limit from 20 weeks to now 24 weeks.
• The 24 weeks period to terminate pregnancy is allowed only in special cases.
• This bill is said to be a progressive legislation which amends the earlier act of 1971.

BACKGROUND DETAILS

• The Parliament passed a bill to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971.
• The new act allows a woman to abort her baby if she falls under the case of ‘special category of woman’.
• By special category it means and includes woman who are rape victims or survivors, minor girls, foetus having abnormalities, also includes cases of victims of incest and differently abled woman.

FURTHER DETAILS

• If any pregnancy is to be terminated within 20 weeks opinion of 1 doctor is required.
• But when it goes beyond 20 weeks period then opinion of 2 doctors shall be required out of 2, one should be a government doctor.
• Also the name and other details of the woman opting for termination of pregnancy shall be not disclosed to anyone except to a person authorized as per law.
• Health Minister Harsh Vardhan was quoted as saying “This is the 1st step towards women’s safety".
• Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said while addressing the media that “This bill gives reproductive rights to the woman and will also reduce maternal mortality”.

CONCLUSION

This new amendment bill passed in favour of woman shows the progressive view of the government which gives the woman a right to make her own decision with regards to abortion.

There have been many cases in the past and even presently where a woman wants to abort the baby but could not and had to knock the doors of the courts for approval in special cases but now this recent amendment bill makes a woman’s life less complicated by giving her the liberty to abort when it comes to unwanted pregnancy.

Do you support abortion in special cases or even in general ? Let us know in the comments section below!