Medical Termination of Pregnancy Now Allowed Upto 24 Weeks

Amendment to Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, has been approved by the Cabinet, taking abortion limit to 24 weeks instead of 20 weeks. Now a female can safely and legally opt for abortion until the sixth month of pregnancy, and terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Prakash Javadekar, Information and Broadcasting Minister, said, “The law, which was necessary for women’s reproductive rights, will now allow them to abort any time during pregnancy till the 24-week gestation period. Currently, the law allows medical abortion only till 20 weeks of pregnancy”. This step is taken to ensure dignity, autonomy, confidentiality, and justice for women (‘special categories’, especially vulnerable women including survivors of rape, victims of incest, and other vulnerable women like differently-abled women and minors) who need to terminate pregnancy.