95% Women Unaware Of New Abortion Rules: Why We Need More Awareness

India's Supreme Court declared on September 29, 2022, that all women, regardless of marital status, can seek abortions up to 24 weeks into their pregnancies.

Formerly, married women in India were permitted to undergo abortions up to 24 weeks into their pregnancies, while unmarried women were only permitted to do so up to 20 weeks. The 24-week timeframe was extended by the court to all women.

Advocates for reproductive rights praised the decision, saying it made sure that the law did not discriminate and gave single women the option of safe and legal abortions.

New Abortion Laws in India

Abortion has been legal in India since 1971, under the Medical Termination Pregnancy Act. In 2021, the legislation was changed to allow abortions up to 24 weeks for some groups of women (married women who were divorced or widowed, children, rape victims, or women with mental illnesses), instead of 20 weeks. However, since unmarried women were not included in the amendments, many people began to wonder why the legislation made distinctions based on marital status.

India has had a severely unbalanced gender ratio due to extensive cases of female foeticide. As a result, the government exercised rigorous restrictions on who can end a pregnancy.

The decision followed a lower court's July 2022 denial of an abortion to an unmarried because she was more than 20 weeks along in her pregnancy. She was allowed to get an abortion up until the 24th week of her pregnancy later that month, and on September 29 the Supreme Court expanded that right to all women across the country.

According to the Court’s judgement, the differentiation between unmarried and married women under the MTP Act is arbitrary. All women are free to use their legal and safe abortion rights up to 24 weeks of gestation. The three-judge panel, which was made up of Justices DY Chandrachud, AS Bopanna, and JB Pardiwal, ruled that a woman's marital status could not be used as a justification to deny her the right to end an unplanned pregnancy.

The Center's 2018 study, Ensuring Reproductive Rights, which addresses the worry of being prosecuted, was cited by the Court in its decision. Because of this concern, medical professionals frequently demand compliance with extra-legal requirements, including family consent, documentation, or court approval. The Court ruled that only the pregnant woman's permission is important and that these extra-legal criteria are not supported by the law.

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