Context: A critical analysis of the recently tabled Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Bill 2020.
Problems associated with MTP Bill, 2021
Counters Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on reproductive autonomy and bodily integrity:
Abortion under the MTP Amendment Bill will not be allowed at the request of a pregnant person but is conditional on authorization by the doctor.
The provisions in the bill continue to criminalize abortion and perpetuate harmful stereotypes and stigma around reproduction, sexuality and motherhood.
Fosters the ableist rationale of the State: As the Bill will allow for abortions without any upper gestation limit only for foetuses with “abnormalities”.
Possible delays in the abortion process: As people living in rural areas in large parts of the country could find the medical boards (for approval of abortions) as mandated by the bill inaccessible.
Procedures of medical boards might lead to violations of privacy.
Non-Inclusive: There were consultations with elite groups of healthcare professionals, bureaucrats and politicians, but important civil society actors and marginalized groups were not consulted.
Lack of inclusion of transgender people within the MTP framework.
This may result in constitutional challenges and judicial interventions of the law.
Hetero-patriarchal regulatory orientation of the law: As the State continues to control women’s reproductive and sexual rights.