The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, received President’s assent on March 25th, 2021, and on 24th September, 2021 this Amendment has come into force.
The major thrust has been in the Amendment of Section 3 of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, where till 24weeks in certain cases, the pregnancy can be terminated.
Importantly the Section 3, sub-section (2), sub-clause (b) lays down two essentials of termination of pregnancy and they are:-
where pregnancy exceeds 20weeks but does not exceed 24weeks, pregnancy can be terminated if not less than two registered medical practitioner in good faith say that:
“ (i) the continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury to her physical or mental health; or (ii) there is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from any serious physical or mental abnormality. ”
The thrust of the amendment on the impact on the mental health of the pregnant woman is socially important for accounting psychological aspect like mental health too.
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