Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act 2021

Story hook

It is September 2022, and the Supreme Court of India is hearing X v. Principal Secretary, Health + Family Welfare Department, GNCTD — a 25-year-old unmarried woman in a consensual live-in relationship who has been denied an abortion at 23 weeks 6 days by the Delhi High Court because she was unmarried. The Delhi HC had held that the MTP Act 2021 + Rules allowed extension of the gestation limit (to 24 weeks) only for seven specified categories of women, all explicitly married or post-marital (widow, divorcee).

The petitioner reaches the Supreme Court bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, A.S. Bopanna + J.B. Pardiwala. On 29 September 2022, they deliver one of the most progressive reproductive-rights judgments in Indian history. They read down the MTP Rules 2003 (amended 2021) to include unmarried women + women in consensual live-in relationships within the 24-week category. The bench writes: "The right to reproductive autonomy is a part of the right to privacy under Article 21" + "a narrow interpretation that confines benefits of beneficial legislation only to married women would render Section 3(2)(b) of the MTP Act unconstitutional".

In a stunning second move, the same judgment also held that marital rape constitutes 'rape' for purposes of MTP Act — a woman raped by her husband can access abortion as a rape survivor under the Act, despite Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC (now BNS 63 Exception 2) still standing.

This is the arc of Indian abortion law — from the colonial-era total ban (Section 312 IPC 1860) to the MTP Act 1971 (limited liberalisation), to the MTP (Amendment) Act 2021 (expanded 24-week categories), to X v. Principal Secretary 2022 (judicial gender-neutralisation). This file maps the journey.

Why this matters for UPSC

This is a growing UPSC topic — Mains GS-I asked 2020 "Why do you think women in India are still mostly perceived as home-makers?" and 2021 "Discuss the desirability of greater representation to women in higher judiciary". Reproductive rights

• marital rape + abortion are recurring GS-II health policy + GS-IV ethics + Essay themes.

Prelims has tested MTP basics — gestation limits, who can authorise, RMP requirements. Expect a question with the 2021 amendments and the X 2022 ruling.

Interview: bodily autonomy vs foetal rights; comparative (post-Dobbs USA contrast); single + unmarried women; foetal abnormality + survivor abortions.