Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act
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Direct answer
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, liberalised by the 2021 amendment, legalises termination of pregnancy on specified grounds by a trained registered medical practitioner at an approved facility. Termination is permitted where continuation risks the woman's life or grave injury to her physical or mental health, where pregnancy results from rape or failure of a contraceptive method, or where substantial fetal abnormalities exist. One practitioner's opinion suffices up to twenty weeks, two opinions for the specified categories between twenty and twenty-four weeks, and no upper limit applies where termination is necessary to save the woman's life or for Board-certified fetal abnormalities incompatible with life.
What you must remember
- Grounds: risk to the woman's life or grave physical or mental injury; pregnancy from rape — read by the Supreme Court to include marital rape for this purpose; contraceptive failure, applied irrespective of marital status; and substantial fetal abnormality.
- Gestational bands: up to twenty weeks — one registered medical practitioner; twenty to twenty-four weeks — two practitioners, for the specified categories; beyond twenty-four weeks — only to save the woman's life, or for Board-certified fetal abnormality incompatible with life or causing serious handicap.
- Specified categories to twenty-four weeks: survivors of sexual assault or rape, incest victims, minors, women whose marital status changed during pregnancy, women with major physical disability or mental illness, fetal abnormality cases and humanitarian settings — with equal access irrespective of marital status.
- Privacy: the name and particulars of the woman cannot be revealed except to a person authorised by law.
- Provider and place: a practitioner with the prescribed training, at a government hospital or approved facility, using licensed pharmacy products for medical methods.
- Consent: the woman's consent alone — the husband's is not needed; a guardian's written consent is required for a minor or a woman with mental illness; practitioners acting in good faith are protected.
- Outside the Act: termination without the statutory grounds is the offence of causing miscarriage, and foeticide after sex determination is punishable under the PCPNDT Act.
Common confusion
The practitioner numbers are mixed with the bands, and students assume every rape survivor automatically qualifies to twenty-four weeks — the upper band applies to the specified categories with two opinions, and beyond that only the Board route. The husband's consent is another favourite — never required; the woman's is the only one, with guardian consent for minors.
Exam-focused takeaway
Examiners ask the grounds, the bands with opinion counts, the twenty-four-week categories, the Medical Board's role, and consent for minors. MCQs test the upper limit and that contraceptive failure covers unmarried women. In viva, counsel a rape survivor at nineteen and at twenty-three weeks, and state the position for a minor.
Frequently asked questions
Up to what gestation can one practitioner terminate a pregnancy?
Up to twenty weeks on that practitioner's good-faith opinion; the twenty to twenty-four week band for specified categories requires two practitioners.
Whose consent is needed for termination?
The pregnant woman's alone; for a girl below eighteen or a woman with mental illness, the guardian's written consent is required — never the husband's.
Which categories qualify for termination up to twenty-four weeks?
Sexual assault and incest survivors, minors, women whose marital status changed during pregnancy, women with major disability or mental illness, fetal abnormality cases and humanitarian settings, per the MTP Rules.
What is the position beyond twenty-four weeks?
Termination is lawful only to save the woman's life, or for substantial fetal abnormality incompatible with life or causing serious handicap as determined by the Medical Board.
Is termination legal after contraceptive failure in unmarried women?
Yes — the provision covers failure of any device or method used by the woman or her partner, applied irrespective of marital status.