RIGHT TO ABORTION

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Right to abortion
Right to abortion

Updated: Jul 4, 2020

Abortion is one of the subjects that have been discussed extensively in both national and international level. It has because of a controversial issue all over the world. Everybody is in dilemma whether a mother has a right to terminate her pregnancy at any time she wishes or an unborn child has a right to life. The Right to life is a very broad concept and is the most fundamental to all . In India, right to life has been recognized under art-21 of the Indian constitution as which says that ‘No person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to procedural established by law.’ Person here includes both man and women. Among various right which are available to a women , the right to abortion is also believed to be one of the most essential and fundamental right. Right to abortion has been recognized under right to privacy which is a part of right to personal liberty and which emanates from right to life. But the question always arises whether an unborn child should be considered as a human being and be given the status of person or not . There are various aspects such as religious, ethics , moral and legal values that rule over the aspects of right to abortion.

ABORTION IN INDIA– Abortion in India is legal in certain circumstances.It can be performed on various ground until 24 weeks of pregnancy. In exceptional cases , a court may allow a termination after 24 weeks. When a women gets a pregnancy terminate voluntarily from a service provides ,it is called Induced abortion.Spontaneous abortion is when the process of abortion starts on its own without any intervention . In common language, this is also known as a miscarriage.Till 2017, there was a dichotomous classification of abortion as safe and unsafe . However, with abortion technology now becoming safer, this has been replaced by a three tier classification of safe , less safe and least safe .

1-SAFE ABORTION-Provided by health care and recommended by WHO.

2-LESS SAFE ABORTION-Done by trained provides using non – recommended method as using a safe method.

3-LEAST –SAFE METHOD– Done by trained provides using dangerous method. The medical termination of pregnancy Bill was passed by both the houses of the parliament and received the assent of the president of india on 10th August ,1971 . It came on the statute book as the ‘THE MTP ACT,1971’. This law guarantees the right of women in india to terminate an unintended pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner in a hospital established or maintained government or a place being approved for the purpose of this act by the government. Not all pregnancies could be terminated.

CASE LAWS IN THIS REGARDDr. Nisha malviya and Anr. v/s State of MP The accused had committed rape on minor girl aged about 12 years and made her pregnant . The allegation are that two other co-accused took this girl, and they terminated her pregnancy . So the charge on them is firstly causing miscarriage without consent of girl. The court held all the three accused guilty of termination of pregnancy which was not consented by the mother or the girl.

IN US PERSPECTIVE – Constitutional protection for the right to abortion in US perspective : from roe tp casey to whole women’s health- In its landmark ruling in Roe v/s wade ,410US 113 [1973] the SC, recognized that the right to abortion is a fundamental liberty protected by the 14th amendment of the constitution of USA. Since Roe the court has repeatedly reaffirmed the constitution’s protection for this essential liberty, which grantee individual the right to make personal decision about family and child bearing.

CONCLUSION- The great Tamil saint Thiruvalluvar said:- ‘The touch of children is the delight of the body ; the delight of the ear is the hearing of their speech’.

A mother has got a natural duty to provide the maximum best possible to her offspring. There is no meaning in conferring a right to the mother to destroy the foetus. Her right is limited to have a termination of pregnancy. It is also said that delivering 20 million babies annually would be a greater strain on the nation’s medical service and economic resources than, say performing one to five million abortion a year.The law has to take care of the liberty of the mother as well as the unborn . as a hospitable community we should seek ways of providing support for lonely and frightened mothers, and for lonely and abandoned babies. We need to offer women with unplanned pregnancies as much love and support as they require and to assist them in finding compassionate alternatives to abortion.