The government has notified the new Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Rules, 2021 which spell out the situations that define eligibility criteria for termination of pregnancy up to twenty-four weeks as against the previous upper limit of 20 weeks.

The eligible categories include survivors of sexual assault, rape or incest, minors, women with physical disabilities, mentally ill women including those suffering from mental retardation and situations where the foetal malformation has substantial risk of being incompatible with life.

This category also includes cases where it is assessed that if the child is born it may suffer from physical or mental abnormalities to be seriously handicapped. The rules also create space for women whose cases may be considered where there is change of marital status during the ongoing pregnancy like widowhood and divorce. The eligibility categorisation also includes cases of women with pregnancy in disaster or emergency situations as may be declared by the government.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 came into force with effect from September 24. The Act amends the 1971 MTP law which regulates the conditions under which medical termination of pregnancy are to be pursued.