BETWEEN LAW AND LIFE: A SOCIO-LEGAL STUDY ON MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY, 1971–2025
AUTHORS – LITHIKHA R & MANI MUGILAN SARAVANAN
STUDENTS AT VELS INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCED STUDIES
BEST CITATION – LITHIKHA R & MANI MUGILAN SARAVANAN, BETWEEN LAW AND LIFE: A SOCIO-LEGAL STUDY ON MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY, 1971–2025, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (1) OF 2026, PG. 409-414, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/EYGL2791
ABSTRACT:
The philosophy of yin and yang applies to most of the problems in society. The current society has developed a perspective called equality, where both men and women are equal yet there is still social stigmas which pushes women to an informal system. Here, yang represents evolving laws and yin represents unlawful termination. When law does not evolve over a long time it leads to an increase in crime. One of the serious offences against life under conservative perspective is Medical Termination of Pregnancy, known as abortion. Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, as amended in 2021, provides the exclusive legal framework governing abortion service in India. Abortion remains a criminal offence under section 88 of BNS, 2023 with MTP Act serving as the sole statutory exception. Even though it is considered an offence against life, there are risks for the mother, when MTP is done in “Third-trimester” or when the patient is a minor. The POCSO Act imposes mandatory reporting for minors, while the PCPNDT Act creates restrictive compliance burdens. especially for minors and second- trimester procedures. These laws impose mandatory reporting and strict documentation, often deterring providers from offering services. Despite legal provisions, about 78% of India’s 15.6 million annual abortions are unauthorized due to regulatory barriers, driving women towards unsafe options. This paper deals with laws related to medical termination of pregnancy and punishment for illegal abortion. It consists of statistical data on annual incidence of illegal abortion. The main aim of this paper is to assess societal awareness about the risk of medical termination of pregnancy and steps taken by the government to prevent unauthorized MTP in India.
KEY WORDS: Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, Abortion, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,2023 (BNS), POCSO Act, PCPNDT Act, Trimester based risk, minors, India.