Abortion is legal in India with medical access for all

The Centre for Justice, Law and Society at Jindal Global Law School, in collaboration with Ipas Development Foundation, has developed "Access to Safe and Legal Abortion: A Handbook on Abortion Laws for Healthcare Service Providers in India". Anand Sinha, India country advisor, David and Lucille Packard Foundation, stated that "The interpretation of law is a critical first step when thinking about abortion. The handbook unpacks dense information and adds courage to the movement."

July 2022

Source : Daijiworld

Abortion Legal In India, But Is It A Constitutional Right Of A Woman?

#Abortion is legal in India, but is it a constitutional right of a woman? As per a survey by Ipas Development Foundation, only 22% of women in India knew that abortion is legal. In the wake of the recent overturning of the #RoevsWade verdict in the US #SupremeCourt, we take a look at the status of abortion in India. Sneha Mukherjee, advocate, Supreme Court of India, and Vinoj Manning, CEO, Ipas Development Foundation (IDF), help us understand the legal and socio-cultural aspects of abortion in India.

July 2022

Source : BOOM

Need to Invest in Building a Supportive Ecosystem for Women

Since November 2021, with CSR support from Emcure Pharmaceuticals, IDF has been working to introduce the chatbot to rural, young women in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh an endeavor that has led to empowering over 12,000 rural young women with correct information and guidance on fulfilling their health needs. This has been made possible with the visionary support of Ms. Namita Thapar, CEO of Emcure Pharmaceuticals who believes in the individual strength of each woman and is committed to their upliftment and empowerment.

March 2022

Source : APN News

महिलाओं को मेडिकल टर्मिनेशन ऑफ प्रेग्नेंसी एक्ट के बारे में जागरूक कर रहे हैं देवेंद्र त्रिपाठी

महिलाओं और निर्णयकर्ताओं के लिए सुरक्षित गर्भपात सेवाओं को अधिक सहज बनाने की आवश्यकता अनवरत चलती रहनी चाहिए: भौगोलिक पहुंच बढ़ाना; सामर्थ्य में वृद्धि; उच्च गुणवत्ता वाली गर्भपात देखभाल प्रदान करना और सेवाओं की गोपनीयता को प्राथमिकता देना. इसी क्रम में सांझा प्रयास एक स्वैक्षिक संगठनों का नेटवर्क है जिसके माध्यम से जनसमुदाय, सरकारी अधिकारियों, नीतिनिर्धारकों एवं समुदाय आधारित गैर सरकारी संगठनों तक प्रजनन स्वास्थ्य, सुरक्षित गर्भपात सेवाएं एवं गर्भपात पश्चात परिवार नियोजन सेवाओं के बारे में जानकारी पहुंचाने का प्रयास किया जा रहा है. यह नेटवर्क उत्तर प्रदेश एवं बिहार के 20 जनपदों में कार्य कर रहा है.

November 2021

Source : News18

New abortion rules recognise minors as vulnerable, seek to make services more accessible to them

The new abortion rules notified by the Government recently recognise minors as a vulnerable category and seek to make services more accessible to them. But social stigma and conflict with POCSO Act, 2012, or the law against child sexual abuse, pose hurdles. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Rules, 2021, define new categories of vulnerable women who are allowed termination up to 24 weeks upon meeting certain conditions and with the permission of two doctors.

October 2021

Source : The Hindu

The Urgent Need to Normalize Abortions in India

I am a married woman in my late-30s and have had a spontaneous abortion many years ago. It was a wanted pregnancy, and it just didn’t go through its complete term. I was told not to talk about it – it is not good for people to know that you have problems conceiving or carrying a pregnancy. That experience changed my life - it reiterated to me the burden to prove fertility that women in India (and maybe across the world) carry, and it brought to life some stories I had heard about the traumatic experiences of terminating a pregnancy (although mine was for very specific medical reasons).

October 2021

Source : mid-day

Let us remove all doubts: Reproductive rights are essential

Women have been the worst sufferers of Covid-19 due to multiple reasons. The pandemic warrants a reminder that reproductive rights are human rights – they are essential and urgent   It may not be wrong to say that human rights were introduced in India right back in 1950 with the development of the Constitution of our country. The human rights movement has seen rapid progress and success, and many national programs and mechanisms have been introduced to complement the growing recognition of an individual’s rights. Reproductive rights continue to be ambiguous in the Indian context. While the importance of the rights of both men and women to choose and control their own reproductive functions has gained prominence, the introduction of this concept is especially complicated in India given the complex social structures – procreation is often seen as a social expectation and an individual’s rights are overlooked.

December 2020

Source : The Times of India

Supreme Court’s abortion ruling brings focus back on proposed amendments to MTP Act

The Supreme Court's verdict allowing a woman from Mumbai to abort her 24-week pregnancy for abnormality of the fetus that could endanger her life has brought focus back on the proposed amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. "The proposed changes to the Act will save such women from going to court and hence, a delay in abortion, mental trauma as well as huge expenses," says Vinoj Manning, Executive Director, Ipas Development Foundation (IDF), an NGO that works on increasing women's access to comprehensive abortion care in India.

September 2019

Source : The Times of India

Government plans equal abortion rights for single women

In a move that will make it easier for single women to safely and legally terminate unwanted pregnancies, the health ministry has recommended recognising "failure of contraceptive" and "unplanned pregnancy" as lawful reasons for abortion among all women, married or otherwise. At present, the law recognises these two reasons for abortion only in case of "married" women. The relief is part of a series of recommendations made by the health ministry for amendment of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act.

September 2019

Source : The Times of India

Allow non-allopathists to perform abortions (Vinoj Manning)

Despite abortion being legal in India for almost five decades, every day 10 women die, and thousands more face serious and permanent injuries due to unsafe abortions. This is unacceptable. Unsafe abortion is the third largest cause of maternal mortality and accounts for eight percent of all maternal deaths in India. A recent study conducted jointly by International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Population Council, New Delhi, and Guttmacher Institute, New York, estimates that only 22 percent of the 1.5 crore abortions that occur in India every year take place at a private or public-sector facility and are performed by trained personnel.

June 2018

Source : The Pioneer