Why it’s still tough to get an abortion in India despite a progressive law

There is a 70% shortfall of ob-gyns in rural India, according to 2019-20 Rural Health Statistics data. Many doctors are also unwilling to perform surgical abortions, which makes women turn to quacks

- Ketaki.Desai

One night Jasmine, who runs a chatline focused on sexual and reproductive health, found her phone pinging with frantic messages from a young woman who had taken over-the-counter medication to induce an abortion. She had started bleeding and was convinced she was going to die. The young woman began to send her photos. “This is all happening in real-time. Even for our counsellors who have received extensive training, looking at those kinds of pictures can be very challenging,” says Jasmine. “Luckily, she ended up okay.”

Abortion rights have hit the headlines with the US Supreme Court reportedly ready to strike down Roe v Wade. India’s abortion law, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, is quite progressive in comparison but that doesn’t mean access to abortions is easy, say those like Jasmine who work in the sector.

MANY WOMEN THINK IT’S ILLEGAL

One of the major roadblocks is that women are not aware of the law. Alka Barua, a public health expert who handles the safe abortion theme at CommonHealth, an organisation working on abortion advocacy, says that they have seen over and over again that women think abortions are illegal.

DIY ROUTE DIFFICULT