The Union Cabinet approved extending the upper limit for permittingabortions from the present 20 weeks to 24 weeks.
The Cabinet approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment)Bill, 2020 to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971.
The Bill will be introduced in the parliament in the upcoming Budgetsession.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the upper limit for permittingabortions has been extended from the present 20 weeks to 24 weeks. He added thatthis will ensure safe termination of pregnancies and also give womenreproductive rights over their bodies.
The extension to 24 weeks will also help victims of rape, girls withdisabilities as well as minors, who may not realise they are pregnant untillater, he said.
In a progressive reform and giving reproductive rights to women, thelimit of 20 weeks of medical termination of pregnancy has been increased to 24weeks.
This is important because in the first 5 months there are cases where thegirl concerned doesn't realise and has to go to court. This was discussed withvarious stakeholders.
"This will reduce maternal mortality," he said.
The government recognised ¡°failure of contraceptive¡± as a lawful reasonfor abortion, including for unmarried women. This will make it easier forsingle women to safely and legally terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
Currently, the law recognises ¡°failure of contraceptive¡± and ¡°unplannedpregnancy¡± as legal reasons for abortion only in the case of ¡°married¡± women.The law says while for minors, written consent from parents is required,unmarried women cannot cite contraceptive failure as a reason for abortion.