Medical termination of pregnancy

Medical termination of pregnancy (MTP), or induced abortion, is intentional or voluntary ending of a pregnancy before full term.

About 45 to 50 million MTPs are done worldwide every year, roughly one-fifth of all pregnancies conceived in a year.

Many countries still debate legalising it because of emotional, ethical, religious and social issues.

India legalised MTP in 1971, with strict conditions to prevent misuse, especially to check illegal female foeticide.

Reasons for MTP: unwanted pregnancy after casual unprotected intercourse, contraceptive failure or rape; and cases where continuing the pregnancy could harm or kill the mother, the foetus or both.

Under the MTP (Amendment) Act, a pregnancy may be ended on stated grounds within the first 12 weeks on the opinion of one registered medical practitioner; between 12 and 24 weeks, two registered medical practitioners must agree.

The grounds: continuing would risk the woman's life or gravely injure her physical or mental health; or there is a substantial risk that the child would be born with physical or mental abnormalities severe enough to be seriously handicapped.

The Act aims to reduce illegal abortions and the maternal deaths and illness they cause.

MTP is relatively safe in the first trimester (up to 12 weeks); second-trimester abortions are much riskier.

Worrying trends: most MTPs are done illegally by unqualified quacks, which is unsafe and can be fatal; and amniocentesis is misused to learn the foetus's sex, followed by MTP if it is female, which is illegal. Counselling and more health-care facilities can reverse this.